HOUSTON, Texas – Completing its fourth season-sweep in a row, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team beat HCU for the second time this year with a lopsided 68-42 win Thursday night in Sharp Gym.
The Islanders (18-7, 11-3 SLC) outscored the Huskies (6-19, 1-13 SLC) 18-7 in the first quarter and only extended its dominance from there to post their highest margin of victory in SLC play this season. It will greatly improve their league-leading scoring margin average of a +9.7 entering tonight.
It was powered from a strong offense in the paint where the Islanders outscored HCU 40-18. Graduate
Alecia Westbrook and junior
Nabaweeyah McGill greatly contributed as the two posts led the team with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Westbrook got things started quickly with the pull up jumper on the first possession. HCU would find a tie at 3-3 but the inside jumper by senior
Mireia Aguado posted the final go-ahead points with a lot of basketball left to play as the Islanders only looked forward. Back-to-back lay-ins from McGill made it 12-7 with 3:16 left in the first and junior
Tymberlin Criswell beat the clock with the fastbreak layup on the takeaway to push it to 18-7.
McGill then got the ball rolling in the second with the fast bucket in the lane. Senior
Violeta Verano went deep at 7:11 to make it a 23-12 game before junior
Maya Ellis took her shot beyond the arc to push it to 30-18 with 3:51 left in the half.
Westbrook netted a pair of shots to start the third quarter as the Islanders led it 37-20 at 7:37. Westbrook on the putback at 4:04 pushed it to 46-22. Aguado and McGill kept it a 22-point game as each connected on a jumper by the end of the third.
The Islanders never dipped below a 20-point lead in the fourth, as the layup from senior
Sasha Shishkina gave them their largest lead of the night at 66-38 with 2:46 remaining. A pair of free throws from Shishkina kept that advantage, but the Huskies managed a late jumper to get it back down to the final +26 margin.
The Islanders will close out their final road trip of the regular season Saturday at Lamar, taking on the first-place Cardinals at 3 p.m.
NOTES
- A&M-Corpus Christi now leads HCU 16-9 in the all-time series and 7-5 when playing the Huskies on the road. It completed the season sweep over HCU after they defeated the Huskies earlier this year 73-49 at home, the first season to do so since 2021-22.
- The Islanders have defeated the Huskies by at least 24 points in each meeting this year. The Islanders opened this year's conference slate against the Huskies, building on a lead for the final +24 (73-49) advantage, the largest margin of victory for the Islanders in their conference opener since joining the Southland in 2006-07.
- A&M-Corpus Christi remains undefeated in conference play when holding Southland teams to under 60 points. The Islanders are 14-0 overall this year when holding the opposition to under 60 points.
- The Islanders are also 15-1 this year when they score 60 or more points. They have scored at least 50 points in every game this year, the first time since 2001-02 that the Islanders have scored at least that many in each of the first 25 games of the season.
- Westbrook submitted her 16
th double figure scoring game of the season, 77
th in her career, fifth in a row, and 10
th in SLC play this year. She continues to lead the team in scoring with 11.7 points per outing overall and 13.0 ppg in league play.
- McGill registered her eighth double figure scoring game of the year, 17
th in her career, second in the last three games, and fourth in SLC play this season. Her six made field goals matches her season best, set in the season opener against St. Thomas.
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