EDINBURG, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team began their slate of games at the UTRGV Holiday Classic on a high note on Thursday afternoon, hanging on to take down Kansas City by a final score of 64-59.
Thursday's contest matched the narrowest margin of victory on the season for the Islanders (6-4), with the other instance coming when they took down Texas State by a final of 62-57 back on November 9. It was also their second victory in the all-time series against the Roos (3-10), and their first since they last squared off on January 15, 2004, in Corpus Christi.
The opening stretch of the game was an uncharacteristic one for A&M-Corpus Christi, as the nation's leading defense by field goal percentage allowed UMKC to knock down 10 of its 13 shots in the first quarter. Luckily for the Islanders, though, they managed to keep pace with their hot shooting opponents, using four points apiece from graduate
Paige Allen and freshman
Torie Sevier to keep their deficit to just five at the end of the period.
The Islanders began to look like themselves on the defensive end once the second quarter rolled around, holding the Roos to just 10 points while allowing them to make just four of their 14 attempts from the field. This turnaround led into some easy offense on the other end, highlighted by a flurry from Sevier, who stuffed the stat sheet for six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal in the frame. The quarter ended on a high note as well, with graduate
Mireia Aguado cashing a bucket with time running down to send the team into halftime with a one-point lead.
Out of the break, the two teams started trading blows back and forth, with the biggest scoring run for both teams coming in at just three points throughout the entirety of the third. The Islanders' effort on defense held firm throughout the quarter, holding UMKC to another 4-14 shooting performance in the frame while surrendering just 12 points. On the other end, senior
Annukka Willstedt found her stride by pouring in six points in a three-minute span, and Aguado once again converting a tough shot at the buzzer to give A&M-Corpus Christi a three-point lead heading into the final frame.
With the game hanging in the balance, the Islanders got an offensive explosion from an unlikely source in senior
Tymberlin Criswell, who entered the fourth quarter sitting at just five points. The Houston native started her heroics with the score knotted up at 52 with 5:39 left on the clock, drawing a foul and converting both of her free throws to put the team up by two once again. She then grabbed a rebound on the other end of the court and came down to finish a contested layup in the paint, and a few possessions later, she came off a screen and buried a three pointer to put the Islanders up by five, their largest lead of the game to that point. The team would turn to Criswell to ice the game at the free-throw line soon after this as well, and she did just that, knocking down four of her five shots from the stripe to help deliver them to the narrow victory.
By the time the fourth quarter had ended, Criswell had scored each of the final 12 points for the Islanders, bringing her up to 17 on the day and helping her match her career-high set on November 26 of last year against Texas State. She shot the ball efficiently throughout the evening – finishing at 4-8 from the field, 1-2 from downtown and 8-10 from the line – while also stuffing the stat sheet in other ways as well, recording three rebounds, three steals and an assist.
The team also got the first double-digit scoring performance of the year from Sevier, who finished her day with 12 points on 5-7 shooting in 18 minutes of action. This helped lead an excellent day from the bench, with A&M-Corpus Christi's reserves outscoring UMKC's 21-4 on the evening.
The Islanders will now have a quick turnaround into their next contest, hitting the court once again tomorrow against Eastern Michigan at 4 p.m. for their final game of the UTRGV Holiday Classic.
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