CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team could not jump back into the win column in its return home on Tuesday evening, getting taken down by nonconference foe Santa Clara by a final score of 85-62.
The Islanders (1-2) found themselves playing catch-up early on in the game, allowing the first six points of the night before finally getting their first field goal to drop at the 6:15 mark on a bucket in the paint from senior
Samora Watson. The offense would start to roll better soon after this thanks in large part due to the contributions of junior
Asha Walker, who hit a trio of threes within a three-minute span to lead all scorers in the period with nine points. The last of these brought the hosts back to within single digits, but the Broncos (2-1) would put in the last basket of the quarter to go into the first break up by 10.
Unfortunately for A&M-Corpus Christi, this deficit continued to grow, reaching 44-25 at the half thanks to a red hot 9-15 shooting performance from Santa Clara in the second period and then peaking at 26 at the end of the third. The fourth quarter did see the Islanders find their rhythm again, knocking down six of their nine total shots and getting to the line for 10 attempts while holding the Broncos to just 33 percent from the field in a reversal from the beginning of the night. This helped the team win the final frame by a margin of 19-16, but this proved to be not enough to close the overall gap on the day, sending it to its second defeat of the young season.
Walker led the way for the Islanders in the score sheet, matching her career high with 18 points while draining six of her eight attempts from long range. This was the California native's second game of the year knocking down six triples after also doing so in the season opener against the College of Biblical Studies on November 3, and it brought her percentage from three-point range thus far up to a scorching hot 59.1 percent.
Joining Walker in double figures were both Watson and senior
Marissa Shelton, with the former scoring 14 points to make it three games in a row in double figures to open the season and the latter coming in right behind with 12. Watson also filled up the box score in other ways as well, grabbing a game-high nine rebounds and tying graduate
Chelsea Wooten for the team lead in assists with four. Her board total was her highest since joining the Islanders last season and tied for the third-highest of her career, behind only a 12- and an 11-rebound performance while with Central Connecticut State in 2023-24.
The Islanders will now try to bounce back when they get back on the court next week, hosting Texas State on November 20 at 11 a.m. This game marks the team's annual Education Day, presented by Whataburger, with over 900 elementary school kids from the area expected to fill the gym at the Dugan Wellness Center.
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