CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Improving to 13-0 at home, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball program erased a halftime deficit to defeat Northwestern State 65-55 on Saturday at the American Bank Center.
Head coach
Royce Chadwick is up to 209 career SLC victories and is one away from tying James Smith's mark of 210 at Northwestern State from 1987-04 to become the winningest coach in league history. Chadwick's career SLC record is 209-98 including 13 wins at Sam Houston, 111 at Stephen F. Austin and 85 at A&M-Corpus Christi.
The first-place Islanders (17-7, 9-1 SLC), who have won six in a row, have outscored the opposition 892-650 at home. Coming into the day they had the ninth-longest active home winning-streak in the nation.
A&M-Corpus Christi trailed NWST (10-12, 3-8 SLC) by four at the half when they outscored the Lady Demons 20-9 in the third. The Islanders never trailed in the fourth quarter for the win.
Senior
Makinna Serrata registered a game-high 16 points. Junior
Alecia Westbrook tallied a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds in 40 minutes.
Also in double-figures was sophomore
Violeta Verano with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists. Senior
Diamond Wraggs pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Lady Demons were guided by Candice Parramore's 12 points. Jordan Todd finished with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
NWST came out of the gates hot and hit four of its first five three-pointers. Still, the Islanders led 14-12 and increased it to 18-12 after lay-ups by Wraggs and Westbrook. Verano drilled a three late in the quarter but the Lady Demons hit one in the last second to make it 21-17 at the end of one.
A&M-Corpus Christi went cold in the second quarter and the Lady Demons took the lead 24-23 at the 6:20 mark. After the Islanders tied it 26-26, NWST scored the next five points to go up 31-26. A&M-Corpus Christi trailed 33-29 at the intermission after a jumper by junior
Hayle Campbell.
The Islanders started the third quarter on fire and opened it with a 12-2 run. It included threes by sophomore
Paige Allen and Westbrook to go ahead 44-35 with 4:29 remaining. The lead moved into double-figures 49-38 after a pair of free throws by Wraggs at the 1:46 mark. NWST scored the final four points of the quarter to make it a 49-42 game.
In the fourth, the Lady Demons came as close as 52-50 with 7:03 to go but never got closer. A pair of jumpers by sophomore
Mireia Aguado pushed it back up to 56-50. NWST made one last comeback attempt and trimmed it to 58-55 with 2:58 remaining, but a jumper by Allen quieted the run and the Islanders made free throws in the final minute to win by double-figures.
The Islanders will take their winning-streak on the road Thursday when they head to McNeese for a 7 p.m. tip. A&M-Corpus Christi won the first meeting this year 60-56 at home.
NOTES
- The Islanders are now 14-5 all-time against Northwestern State and have won seven consecutive meetings. A&M-Corpus Christi won the first meeting this year 72-55 in Natchitoches.
- A&M-Corpus Christi entered the game ranked 24th in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.358) and limited the Lady Demons to a .283 mark. After starting 4-of-5 from three, NWST was held to a 1-for-17 clip the rest of the way.
- The Islanders outrebounded the Lady Demons 43-41 and improved to 15-0 this year when they outrebound the opposition.
- A&M-Corpus Christi came back from a halftime deficit for the first time this season.
- Westbrook entered the day ranked 26th in the nation in rebounding (10.5 rpg) and secured 11. It was her 16th career double-double and eighth this year. It was also her 34th career double-digit scoring game and 17th this season.
- Serrata submitted her 28th career double-figure scoring game, 17th this season and sixth in a row. She made five field goals and was 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
- Verano entered the game leading the league in assists (4.6 apg) and distributed five. She notched her ninth double-figure scoring game of the year and third in a row.
- Wraggs surpassed her previous career-high in rebounding of seven at New Orleans.
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