CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Finding a rhythm early, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team cruised to an 86-69 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday at the American Bank Center.
It caps an undefeated home weekend for the Islanders (17-7, 10-3 SLC) and the season sweep over the Lions (11-13, 6-8 SLC). It was a first-half onslaught for the Islanders, who amassed 45 points after assisting on 17 of their 20 made field goals. By the break, senior
Mireia Aguado herself had dished out eight assists.
It helped Aguado finish with 12 assists, the first Islander to record 10+ assists in a game in 10 years when Alissa Campanero registered 12 against HCU (Houston Baptist at the time) on March 1, 2014. She was one shy of the assist/point double-double with nine points.
Reaching the double-double, however, was senior
Paige Allen who pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds to go along with her 10 points. She was one board shy of matching the program record for rebounds in a game.
Another career performance came from junior
Maya Ellis, who went deep six times for a whopping 25 points. The six made three-pointers is the most in a game since junior
Annukka Willstedt netted seven in a game in the 2021-22 season.
Graduate
Alecia Westbrook and senior
Violeta Verano joined the pair in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Islanders jumped to an early 6-0 start off the back of inside shots from Allen, Ellis, and Westbrook. The Lions got on the board at 7:04 but was quickly met with another jumper from Westbrook and the steal-and-score from Aguado pushed the Islanders up 14-6 halfway through the first. From there, A&M-Corpus Christi closed the first 10 minutes of a 6-2 run finalized with the second-chance bucket from Willstedt.
Westbrook kept the momentum going with the quick layup in the second. At 7:12, Verano doubled up the Lions at 28-14 with the drive to the basket and a trio of threes flew from Verano and Ellis kept the Islanders ahead 43-25 with 2:01 in the half.
Ellis nailed another from beyond-the-arc at 7:17 in the third to extend A&M-Corpus Christi's lead to 52-33. Junior
Nabaweeyah McGill also got in for a few contested inside shots to help the Islanders cushion their lead to 60-46 going into the fourth.
The Islanders didn't let up from there, pouring in 26 points in the fourth to add on to their damage. Ellis went back-to-back with swished threes as the Islanders led it 68-48 with 6:51 remaining. Allen got the offensive board and the bucket at 2:43 for a 78-59 advantage and freshman
Andrea Montesinos got the bench off their feet with the long-range shot as she capped the +17 win for the Islanders.
The Islanders will next hit the road for the final time in the regular season this year, making trips to HCU and Lamar next weekend.
NOTES
- The Islanders lead A&M-Commerce 4-0 in the all-time series, remaining undefeated since the teams first started playing each other last year.
- It is the sixth time in SLC play this year that the Islanders shot over 40 percent from the field.
- Ellis turned in her first-ever 20+ scoring game of her career. She becomes the third Islander to score at least 20 points in a game this year after Westbrook and Aguado, all coming in conference play. It was her second double digit scoring game of the year and fourth in her career.
- Aguado set her new career-best with the 12 assists, topping her previous best of just five set three times. She is the first Isander to record 10+ assists in a game in 10 years, and was four short of the program record (16, Mandie Vinck vs. IPFW (02/20/03)).
- Allen submitted her third double-double of the year and fourth in her career. In addition, it was her fourth double figure scoring game of the year. Her 18 rebounds was one shy of the program record previously set twice at 19. The last came from Anita Jeffery at UTPA in 2010.
- Westbrook registered her 14th double figure scoring game of the year, 75
th in her career, third in a row, and eighth in conference play this season.
- Verano recorded her sixth double figure scoring game of the year, 22
nd in her career, second in a row, and third in conference play this season.
Stay Social
Keep up with the women's basketball program via its Facebook page (
Islanders Women's Basketball) and follow the program on Twitter (
@Islanders_WBB) and Instagram (
@IslandersWBB).
#ShakasUp
