COMMERCE, Texas – Taking advantage of a 17-point lead, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team finished down the stretch to take a 69-58 decision at Texas A&M-Commerce Thursday night at the Field House.
The Islanders (13-5, 6-1 SLC) led the entire way after getting out to a quick 6-0 start against the Lions (8-9, 3-4 SLC). A&M-Commerce threatened in the third with a barrage of three-pointers to cut the lead down to just one point, but the Islanders only gave up six in the fourth to pull back ahead for the double digit lead.
A&M-Corpus Christi shot 35.5 percent from the three and outscored the Lions 32-22 in the paint. The Islanders are undefeated in SLC play when shooting over 33.3 percent from beyond-the-arc and when they score more paint points.
Four of A&M-Corpus Christi starters scored in double figures, with junior
Tymberlin Criswell leading the night with 15 points. Senior
Mireia Aguado netted seven field goals for 14 points while graduate
Alecia Westbrook and senior
Paige Allen both converted on four attempts for 13 and 10 points, respectively. Westbrook also pulled down 13 rebounds for the double-double.
Commerce was paced by Jordyn Newsome with 13 points, but ran into foul trouble and left the game in the fourth.
The Islanders came out of the gate hot courtesy of a 6-0 scoring run. The driving lay-in by Aguado pushed it to 8-2 with 7:48 in the first. A pair of threes from Whitner and Verano came in back-to-back possessions as A&M-Corpus Christi went up 18-7 at 3:24. Allen's inside shot gave the Islanders a 20-13 lead but the Lions scrounged up three more points by the end of the first.
Westbrook drew the near immediate foul in the second for a quick two points. The lions cut it to one at 22-21 but the Islanders converted on their next three chances to pull back ahead 28-21 to force the timeout. Off the turnover, Criswell netted the corner three to get up 33-23 at 4:33 as the Islanders held a 38-31 lead at the break.
Criswell fired the three at the start of the third before Westbrook bucketed her first three of the year soon after. Up 46-31, Aguado gave the Islanders their biggest lead of the game with the layup and 7:45 to go in the third. Though, the Lions came out firing from three and chipped the deficit down to just one at 53-52 with 1:34 on the clock but some insurance free throws gave the Islanders a four-point cushion going into the final 10 minutes.
The steal and score by Criswell opened the fourth before Allen netted the deep shot for a 61-53 lead at 8:18. Westbrook then drew the and-one to regain a double digit lead at 67-56 with 2:44 remaining.
The Islanders will continue on the road to Northwestern State, set to face the Lady Demons Saturday at 1 p.m.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi is now 3-0 all-time over A&M-Commerce after the teams played each other for the first time last year. The Islanders have the Lions to under 60 points in every meeting, including in the 2023 regular season finale when A&M-Corpus Christi won 61-53 to secure the SLC Regular Season title.
- The Islanders are 12-0 this year when they score 60 or more points. They have scored at least 50 points in every game this season, the first time since 2018-19 that the Islanders have scored at least that many in each of the first 18 games of the season.
- The Islanders outrebounded the Lions 44-43. They are 11-1 this season when they outrebound the opposition and have outrebounded every SLC opponent this year.
- The Islanders are undefeated 6-0 in conference play when leading at the half, and 4-0 when holding Southland teams to under 60 points.
- Aguado submitted her 10
th double figure scoring game of the season, 12
th in her career, and fourth in a row. She has scored at least 10 points in six of the seven SLC games. Her seven made field goals broke her career-best of six set three other times including a week ago against McNeese.
- Westbrook registered her fourth double-double of the season, 39
th in her career, and second in the last three games. She has recorded either 10+ points or 10+ rebounds in every conference game this year, with double-doubles in three of them.
- Criswell turned in her fourth double digit scoring game of the year and second in the last three games. She matched her career-best of five made field goals in a game and was just two points shy of matching that career-high.
- Allen recorded her eighth 10+ scoring game of the season, 39
th in her career, and third in a row. She also came down with seven rebounds. Allen has grabbed at least six rebounds in every league game this year.
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