LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team could not end its road slate of games on a high note on Saturday afternoon, falling to McNeese in its final away contest of the season by a final score of 69-60.
The loss was the second in as many games for the Islanders (13-15, 5-12 SLC) in the matchup against the Cowgirls (10-18, 5-12 SLC) this year, marking the first time that they were swept in a single season by their foes from Louisiana since they started squaring off as conference opponents. The two now once again sit in a tie for the eighth and final spot in the Southland Conference Tournament with three games to go, with McNeese currently holding the tiebreaker due to head-to-head record.
Much like their first meeting against the Cowgirls back on January 27, A&M-Corpus Christi struggled to convert on its shots from the field, woes that began early into Saturday's affair. After coming out of the gates trading buckets with the home team, the Islanders saw their offense go ice cold, with a pair of free throws by graduate
Nabaweeyah McGill being the only points that they would score from the 6:30 mark of the period all the way through the end. They shot just 4-15 in total during the opening quarter, and this poor performance helped McNeese open up an early five-point lead.
These issues were compounded by a hot shooting stretch from the Cowgirls once the second opened up, as they managed to blitz A&M-Corpus Christi for 20 points in the quarter after converting on eight of their 14 total shots and two of their five tries from three-point range. This included a 9-0 run to end the frame, as after McGill converted a bucket in the paint to cut their deficit to five, the Islanders allowed a pair of buckets in the paint and a three pointer with just four ticks left on the clock that made the score 37-23 heading into the break.
This disadvantage would soon grow to 16 right out of halftime, at which point the Islanders started to slowly chip away and get themselves back into things. The team leaned on its defense to accomplish this, as the unit held the Cowgirls to just eight attempts from the field and three makes in the third quarter while forcing seven turnovers and scoring nine points on the other end off of them. They also upped their aggression on offense during this stretch, getting to the line six times and converting on five after shooting just five total free throws in the first half. The culmination of things came right at the end of the frame, when junior
Samora Watson pulled up from the midrange with four seconds left and buried a jumper to cut the deficit back down to nine heading into the home stretch.
This momentum would quickly be dashed by the home team, however, as McNeese would find its rhythm on offense again and go up by as much as 20 through seven minutes of play in the fourth. The Islanders didn't roll over in spite of this, bringing things as close as seven after an and-one by senior
Tymberlin Criswell with just 52 seconds left on the clock, but the fervent comeback effort was cut short after the Cowgirls converted on a bucket right after and then knocked down a pair of free throws to ice it.
The disparity in shooting percentage was the biggest different between the two teams on Saturday, as despite taking a whopping 18 more shots than McNeese, A&M-Corpus Christi made six fewer, shooting just 30.3 percent as opposed to 54.2 percent from its opponents. This included just one make in 16 attempts from distance for the Islanders, while the Cowgirls drained eight on the same number of shots.
Individually, Criswell led the way in scoring for the Islanders, tallying 14 points off the strength of a perfect 8-8 shooting from the free throw line. Junior
Monae' Duffy came in right behind with 13 points while also grabbing 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, and graduate
Paige Allen rounded out the double-figure scorers by pouring in 10 to go along with eight boards.
The Islanders will now try to bounce back and continue their push toward the postseason in the opening game of their season-ending three-game homestand on Thursday, hosting New Orleans at the American Bank Center for tipoff at 7 p.m.
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