THIBODAUX, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team picked up a very important win on Thursday evening, going on the road and putting together a nice team effort to take down Nicholls by a final score of 59-44.
The victory represented a notable milestone for the program, as it marked the 200
th win in the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi career of head coach
Royce Chadwick, who became the first basketball coach – men's or women's – to reach the milestone with the team. It also served as a measure of revenge for Chadwick's Islanders (13-14, 5-11 SLC), who were beaten by the Colonels (16-10, 9-8 SLC) in the first showdown between the two teams on January 25 at the American Bank Center.
Fresh off a heartbreaking overtime loss in their last time on the court, the Islanders came out of the gates on Thursday on the slow side, falling behind by a handful early after a couple ill-advised turnovers to start things off. The malaise would soon subside, though, with the team getting things together by first upping the intensity on the defensive end. A&M-Corpus Christi would hold Nicholls to just two points over the final six and a half minutes of the opening period, keeping the hosts to one make on its final eight shots while also forcing five turnovers for good measure. The team would go on to score five points on the other end off of these turnovers, which smoothed out the offense and helped it take a three-point lead into the first break.
This momentum carried over into the second in a huge way for the Islanders, as they ended up putting together a dominant 19-5 quarter to extend their advantage all the way to 17 at the half. The defense was again the catalyst during the frame, with the Colonels making just two of 14 shots in total and going on a stretch of more than seven minutes without scoring a single point. At the same time, A&M-Corpus Christi really started to find its groove on the offensive side, spurred on by an excellent showing from senior
Tymberlin Criswell. The guard scored eight of the team's points in the period on a perfect 3-3 shooting from the field, which included a long three that put the Islanders up by double digits for the first time on the day.
Nicholls did not roll over despite how the early goings went, putting together a run of eight straight points from the end of the first half through the beginning of the third quarter to bring things back down to 11. The Islanders would quickly throw their counterpunch in response, though, closing out the period with an 8-0 run of their own powered by three points from graduate
Mireia Aguado and a pair each from Criswell and graduate
Nabaweeyah McGill. This would end up wiping out any momentum that the Colonels had previously built, rebuilding the lead up to 19 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.
Now firmly back in the driver's seat, the Islanders were able to ride the wave throughout the fourth and coast to their eventual double-digit victory. Junior
Samora Watson drove the bus in the final frame by tallying seven points on a pair of made shots, including a highlight-reel level and-one that came off of a beautiful spin move in transition. The other of her makes put the team up by a game-high 20, a cushion that got no smaller than 12 the rest of the way.
Thursday's game was arguably the Islanders' best defensive effort of the season, with the 44 points they allowed being their fewest surrendered to a Division I opponent and the lowest total in general since giving up just 38 to Schreiner back on December 29. They also looked much better on offense than they have in recent games despite only scoring 59 themselves, shooting a respectable 42.9 percent from the field while also picking up 16 assists on their 21 made baskets.
Three different Islanders managed to make their way into double figures in scoring, with the highest being the 15 tallied by Criswell in her first time reaching that many since she scored a career-high 17 against Kansas City on December 19. The other two behind Criswell were Watson, who scored 12 off of the bench in her return to her home state of Louisiana, and Aguado, who poured in 10 while also dishing out a team-high five assists, nabbing four steals and grabbing four rebounds. Graduate
Paige Allen also had a nice day of her own, nearly posting her third straight double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds while matching Aguado in steals with four.
The Islanders will now try to continue this level of play in a very important matchup against McNeese on Saturday, traveling to Lake Charles to take on the Cowgirls at 1 p.m. looking to further increase their lead for the final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament.
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