LAKE CHARLES, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team had its run at the Southland Conference Championships come to an end in the opening game of the bracket on Monday afternoon, bowing out of the tournament with a defeat at the hands of fifth-seeded Northwestern State by a final score of 66-63.
The loss meant that the Islanders (15-17, 7-14 SLC) could not defend their title from last season, when they ran the table and earned their first NCAA Tournament berth in program history. It was the team's first time not winning a game at the SLC Championships since the 2022-23 season when they lost to Lamar in the semifinals, and it was its first time not being one of the last four teams standing since 2020-21, doing so in each of the previous three years.
In the meeting between two of the best defenses in the Southland, it was the offenses that came out looking to push the pace to start things off, scoring nine combined points in just the first two minutes to get more than halfway to the 9-8 score that they played to at halftime of their last meeting back on January 9. The Islanders ended up coming out ahead in this scramble, starting things off with a three-pointer from graduate
Nabaweeyah McGill and a layup from senior
Annukka Willstedt on back-to-back possessions and then getting a bucket from graduate
Paige Allen to go up by three early on. After this, though, the Lady Demons (16-14, 12-8 SLC) put together their first rallies of the afternoon, ripping off a quick 8-0 run after Allen's score and then closing out the quarter with the final six points to put A&M-Corpus Christi in a 10-point hole after one.
Now having to play from behind, the Islanders did what they have so many times this season and relied on their swarming defense to get themselves back in the game. After bending on that end to close out the first period, they completely shut off Northwestern State's water in the second, holding their opponents to just five points in total while forcing them into 2-14 shooting from the field and 0-5 from downtown. This incredible effort gave them some breathing room to find their way on offense, and they managed to capitalize, starting off the period with seven straight points on a layup from McGill, a three-ball from junior
Samora Watson and a pair of free throws from senior
Tymberlin Criswell. By the time the break rolled around, the team had outscored the Lady Demons 13-5, which helped cut its deficit down to just two heading into halftime.
The third quarter proved to be a back-and-forth battle, with the two squads essentially trading buckets the whole way through. The Islanders got a massive lift from Watson at this time, who led the team with seven points on 3-5 shooting in just five minutes played during the frame. She especially caught fire near the end of the period, knocking down all three of her shots over the final four and a half minutes while also getting to the line for an and-one and hitting junior
Monae' Duffy on a back cut for a nice assist in the middle of her outburst. Her last bucket helped bring the team back to within two, but the Lady Demons managed to snatch the momentum right back on a three by Sharna Ayres to once again make it a five-point game with 10 minutes left to go.
Unfortunately for A&M-Corpus Christi, its deficit would begin to grow once the final period began, as Northwestern State began to catch fire from long range. Right out of the break, Ayres managed to drill two more three-pointers to make it six for her on the game, and Mya Blake followed with one of her own as well as a free throw on the next possession to make it 54-42, the largest lead of the game for either team. This left the Islanders needing to play perfectly down the stretch to close the gap, and they nearly did, with Allen burying three triples of her own in just the final minute to bring the team back down by just three. The effort fell just short, though, as Blake grabbed her own rebound off of a missed free throw with one second remaining to run out the rest of the clock, which officially put an end to the 2024-25 season for the Islanders.
Monday's game was decided in large part on the boards, as the Islanders got outrebounded by the Lady Demons 49-32 in what was one of their largest negative margins of the season. They were also unable to take full advantage of their effort on defense, scoring just eight points off of turnovers despite forcing Northwestern State to give it up 20 times and winning that battle by a margin of +9. They also lost the three-point battle nine to seven, which when all combined together ultimately tipped the math game away from their favor.
Leading the way for the Islanders was Allen, who closed out her career in Corpus Christi with one of her best games of the season. She finished her day scoring a season-high 19 points and grabbing a team-best six rebounds, doing so on 7-15 shooting while also setting her new career-high for triples in a game with three. The Kansas City native finishes her storied tenure with the team as the all-time program leader steals and minutes played while also ranking fourth in career rebounds, fifth in field goals made, tied for fifth in points scored and tied for seventh in assists.
The Islanders also saw the last games in the careers of five others, with those being Aguado, McGill, Criswell and senior
Jaeda Whitner. Aguado finished right behind Allen in scoring with 12 points on the day while knocking down 7-8 free throws, while McGill put up nine with four rebounds and two blocks, the first of which officially made her the all-time program leader in career blocks with 132. Criswell led the team on the day in assists with four while scoring six points of her own, and Willstedt came in after her with five points on 2-5 shooting. To round things out, Whitner finishes her career with 122 made three-pointers in her three years despite not making any on Monday, a total that ranks sixth in A&M-Corpus Christi program history.
The 2024-25 season was also a notable one in the career of head coach
Royce Chadwick, who concluded his 13
th year at the helm of the Islanders. Chadwick tallied his 200
th career win with the team last month, making him the first basketball to accomplish that feat on either the men's or women's side. He ends the season on 765 wins for his career and 568 at the Division I level, which ranks tied for 38
th all-time.
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