LAKE CHARLES, La. – Taking down No. 1 Lamar in a thrilling 68-61 finale, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team have finally punched its ticket to the Big Dance for the first time in program history after winning the Southland Conference Tournament Thursday night in the Legacy Center.
It marks A&M-Corpus Christi's (23-8) third-ever championship but first tournament title. It took the program three trips to the SLC final, but this time, the Islanders have finally made history in winning that championship game to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Adding to that historical mark, it is the first time in program history that A&M-Corpus Christi won a championship in back-to-back years after they won the regular season last year. It is also the first time ever that the program will have made a postseason appearance in consecutive seasons after the Islanders played in the WNIT last year.
In addition, it got
Royce Chadwick his 750th career win as a head coach as he has led the Islanders to three championships in five years.
The Islanders jumped on the Cardinals early and never truly relented despite a late surge from the No. 1 team in the fourth. It marked the fourth-ever meeting between these teams in the conference tournament and was a rematch of the 2010 championship game with A&M-Corpus Christi finally breaking a skid to Lamar in the postseason who had won all three previous meetings.
It was helped from a 46.8 percent team shooting as the Islanders have shot over 40.0 percent in seven of their last eight games.
Senior
Paige Allen was named the Tournament MVP following the win. She turned in her career-high 22 points to go along with 12 rebounds for the game highs in both and the double-double in the title game. It came after she was pegged the "game hero" in the semifinal game where she scored the final eight points of that game to give the Islanders the 60-59 edge.
Joining her on the All-Tournament team was graduate
Alecia Westbrook, who finally added "tournament champion" to her expansive resume in an Islanders uniform. She was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor against the Cardinals and added five from the charity strip to finish with 17 points. Senior
Mireia Aguado also turned in a double figure performance in the championship, adding 11.
Allen immediately answered a first bucket from Lamar to even it at 2-2 early on. The takeaway from Aguado got the Islanders another two points as she drove the lane for the lay-in and the second chance three by Verano pushed them up 9-4 at 6:00. Westbrook ran the court for the coast to coast as it was all Islanders at 11-4. The layup from McGill made it a 17-6 game with 1:33 on the clock but back-to-back threes from Lamar got them back within 17-12 after the first.
Lamar would stay within the five-point mark throughout the second, but a pair of shots from junior
Jaeda Whitner and Allen gave the Islanders a 31-23 cushion at the break.
Whitner nailed the three at 9:08 in the third to keep the Islanders ahead by eight. The and-one from Westbrook made it an 11-point difference as the Islanders continued to lay in on Lamar. Some more made free throws had the Islanders up 46-34 at 1:43 and an inside shot from Westbrook pushed it to 48-34, the largest lead of the night, with under a minute in the third.
Just 10 minutes away from a trip to the NCAA, Allen kept it going with a quick layup off the dish from junior
Nabaweeyah McGill for a 50-36 lead. Though, a 9-0 spurt from the Cardinals got them back within striking distance after cutting it down to a one-possession game at 5:39. However, near perfection from the line and some well-time buckets from Aguado and Westbrook kept the Islanders ahead by four the rest of the way to bring home the trophy.
The Islanders will now await Selection Sunday to find out where they are headed. The selection show will be this Sunday, March 17, at 7 p.m. CT.
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