CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team got its revenge in its runback against UIW on Thursday evening, erasing a double-digit deficit in the second half and hanging on late to earn a thrilling victory by a final score of 70-64.
The Islanders (4-15, 3-9 SLC) saw an early lead dissipate in the third quarter and found themselves trailing by as many as 11 points, but they managed to chase down the Cardinals (10-9, 8-4 SLC) during the game's final stretch, outscoring them 25-14 during the fourth to complete their largest comeback victory of the season. After UIW tied things up at 63 apiece with just 70 seconds left, A&M-Corpus Christi came up big in the clutch, converting on seven of eight attempts from the free throw line across the final minute while allowing just a lone point to the visitors to help seal the deal on a big win.
After surrendering 90 points and 14 made threes to the Cardinals just five days earlier, the Islanders came out with a significantly higher level of intensity on the defensive end of the floor on Thursday, holding their opponents to just 32.2 percent shooting and six triples this time around. They also managed to flip the script in some other ways as well, winning the rebounding battle 47-32 after losing it by a margin of eight on Saturday and outscoring UIW from the line after coming short there 20-17 last time out.
The Islanders were led on the night by an outstanding performance from junior
Asha Walker, who played all 40 minutes and set new single-game career highs with 27 points and seven rebounds while knocking down 7-16 shots overall, 5-12 from three-point range and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. This marked the most points scored by an Islander in a game this year, surpassing the previous best of 24 by senior
Samora Watson on December 31 against New Orleans, and it was the most by any A&M-Corpus Christi player since Alecia Westbrook also scored 27 against UIW back on January 6, 2024.
Also scoring a new career-high was senior
Marissa Shelton, who like Walker played the entire game and tallied 21 points on 6-16 shooting and 8-12 from the free throw line in addition to five rebounds and three assists. Before today, Shelton's previous best sat at 20 points, which she reached against College of Biblical Studies in the season opener on November 3 as well as last March while playing for Saint Francis.
Looking to avenge the loss to the Cardinals last weekend, the Islanders came out of the gates strong, holding UIW to just 11 points on 3-15 shooting in the opening quarter while scoring 17 on the other end thanks to 11 from Walker alone. The second period was not as kind on offense to A&M-Corpus Christi, but the team still managed to take a five-point lead into halftime due in large part to some more good defense, forcing five turnovers and allowing the Cardinals to get up just 10 shots in total across the 10 minutes.
The nadir of the evening for the Islanders came out of the break, as they were promptly met by a 21-5 run from UIW that turned their advantage into a big deficit in just six minutes of game action. They would quickly put together an excellent response, however, scoring nine straight points immediately after on a layup and four free throws from Walker and a triple by Shelton to get back to within two just three minutes after falling into their biggest hole of the game.
This momentum would continue into the final frame, with A&M-Corpus Christi ripping off a 14-1 run to start things off with five points from Walker, four from Shelton and two apiece from redshirt senior
Trinity Slocum and sophomore
Rayna Williams to help the team suddenly find itself up by eight once again. The Cardinals would use some swarming defense to swing the game back to even with just 1:10 left on the clock, but the Islanders went back in front on a pair of free throws by Shelton and extended this lead thanks to two more clutch makes at the stripe from redshirt sophomore
Torie Sevier. The hosts then got a huge turnover on the other end, which set Shelton and Walker up to cap off their excellent days by clinching the victory at the line as the clock expired.
The Islanders will now turn around and try to carry the momentum from their win into their game on Saturday, returning back to the Hilliard Center to host Houston Christian at 1 p.m.
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