CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team was hot-handed all night to cruise past Texas A&M-Commerce 83-58 on Thursday night at the American Bank Center.
The Islanders (17-10, 12-4 SLC) opened the game with a big 22-7 advantage after the first 10 minutes and led A&M-Commerce () by double-digits nearly the whole way. Although the Lions would outscore the Islanders 26-25 in the third quarter, A&M-Corpus Christi shot over 50.0 percent in the other three periods for a 50.0 shooting night.
With the win paired with a Southeastern loss at Lamar, A&M-Corpus Christi moved into a tie for first place with the Lady Lions with just two games left in the conference slate. The Islanders have clinched a first-round bye into the Southland Conference Tournament.
The Islanders went 9-of-19 (.474) from long-range and shot 85.7 percent from the free throw line, a season-high, while keeping the Lions at just a 32.2 mark all night for the offensive advantage.
Additionally, A&M-Corpus Christi crashed the glass where they held a 45-30 edge, the highest rebounding margin against a Southland opponent this season. The Islanders have now outrebounded the opposition in 13 of 16 conference games.
Four Islanders posted double figures, with redshirt senior
Makinna Serrata matching her career-high of 10 made field goals for 25 points, three shy of her career-best. Senior
Alecia Westbrook notched the double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior
Paige Allen added 10 points while sophomore
Jaeda Whitner came off the bench to score 12 off four made three-pointers, which matches her career-best set just last week at Nicholls.
A&M-Commerce's Laila Lawrence also had a career night, turning in the game-high 29 points. She scored all seven of the team's points in the first quarter and ended the night having gone 10-of-17 from the floor.
The steal and score by Westbrook got the scoring started to get the Islanders on the board first. The Lions would respond with two points of their own, but the jumper by Serrata spurred a 13-0 scoring run that was capped by Allen's triple at the 4:07 mark for the 15-2 lead. A&M-Commerce scored for the first time in five minutes with 3:25 remaining but was immediately met with the long-range shot fired by Whitner.
Westbrook extended the lead to 17 to open the second quarter before A&M-Commerce went a mini run to cut it to 24-16. Whitner nailed in another shot from beyond the arc to get the Islanders leading by double digits again, and junior
Mireia Aguado closed out the half with six points to lead it 33-16 at the break.
The teams began exchanging buckets in the third, though, triples by Allen and Serrata kept the Islanders ahead 45-29 at the 6:07 mark. A&M-Commerce netted its first three-pointer on the night to make it 50-34. Westbrook drew the shooting and technical fouls at the 1:35 mark and sank all four free throws to give the Islanders a 56-35 advantage and the game headed to the final quarter with A&M-Corpus Christi up 58-42.
On the fastbreak, Westbrook threw the touchdown pass to Serrata who laid it in with 5:40 to go and the Islanders led by over 20 points the rest of the way. The largest lead of the game came after the inside bucket by junior
Justis Odom to make it 81-55. The Lions grinded out three more points, but Odom capped the scoring with another shot in the paint for the 83-58 win.
Saturday will be the final home game of the season for the Islanders as they host Northwestern State. The game will be a part of the university's homecoming celebration and will also be senior night, where the team will recognize Westbrook, Serrata,
Hayle Campbell, and
Kristen Daniels.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi now leads the all-time record 1-0 over A&M-Commerce as it was the first ever meeting between the two programs. The Islanders will play the Lions again in less than a week as the regular season finale.
- The 83 points is the second most scored against a Southland opponent by the Islanders this year. The previous best was 86, which came against Nicholls on Jan. 26 in an 86-47 victory.
- The Islanders improved to 15-3 (10-3 SLC) when they hold the opposition to under 60 points. They have held their opposition to under 60 points in 13 of 16 conference games, four of which were kept to under 50.
- The Islanders entered the game leading the league in opponent field goal percentage (.370) and opponent three-point field goal percentage (.276). They will improve in both after holding the Lions to .322 from the floor and .200 from long-range.
- It marks the second game in a row that all 15 student-athletes saw time on the court and third to have had at least 10 different players put up points in a game. The Islanders are 6-1 SLC when they score more points off the bench.
- Serrata submitted her 52
nd career double figure scoring game, 20
th this season and 13
th in conference play. In addition, it was her 10
th career 20+ scoring game and fourth this season, all of which came in league play. She entered the game with a .484 shooting average and will improve after going 10-of-15 from the field. She is now shooting .521 (87-of-167) in SLC play.
- Westbrook recorded her 32
nd career double-double, 13
th this season and 10
th in SLC play. Earlier this season, she broke the program's career record for double-doubles which was set at 29 by Elisa Beagle in 2005-10. She entered the game leading the league in rebounding at 10.0 per game and was right on par with 10 boards.
- Allen turned in her 29
th career double-digit scoring game, 13
th this season and 11
th in conference play. She matched her career-high of two made three-pointers in a game, set eight previous times but last versus Lamar on Feb. 11.
- Whitner submitted her 5
th career double figure scoring game and was one point shy of her career-best set against St. Thomas back on Dec. 12. She entered the game ranked second in the league in three-point percentage at .405 but will improve after going 4-of-6 from long-range. She has knocked down multiple three-pointers in a game 12 times this season, and has made at least a trio of them seven times.
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