CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team could not take home a win in the first game of its homestand on Thursday evening, falling to Stephen F. Austin at the Hilliard Center by a final score of 93-51.
Much like in their most recent game last Saturday, the Islanders (4-19, 3-13 SLC) came out of the gates slow against the Ladyjacks (17-8, 11-5 SLC), falling into a 25-9 hole after the first 10 minutes of play. The offense ended up being the chief culprit to this issue, as the team shot just 4-15 from the field even despite a perfect 3-3 start from redshirt sophomore
Torie Sevier, who finished the quarter with six points. A&M-Corpus Christi ended up shooting the exact same figure in the second period as well, but it managed to put in 16 points thanks to five makes from the free throw line and a trio of deep threes buried by graduate
Chelsea Wooten. Despite this, though, SFA continued its own offensive attack on the other end, scoring 25 more points to put the hosts down 50-25 at halftime.
Out of the break, the Islanders looked to be putting together some momentum, scoring eight quick points on a three and a layup from junior
Asha Walker and another triple from Wooten. The Ladyjacks managed to wrestle things back toward their side not long after, however, going on a 10-0 run near the end of the third to once again build up their big advantage. A seven-point swing for A&M-Corpus Christi stretching through the quarter break on a layup by redshirt senior
Trinity Slocum and five consecutive points from Sevier helped the team show some fight, but the visitors ultimately took the game to the finish line without much commotion.
The big difference on the day ended up being points off turnovers, as the Islanders scored just two off of the six that they forced as opposed to 31 on 16 forced by the Ladyjacks. SFA also hit 11 threes against just five from A&M-Corpus Christi, which helped to nullify the latter's 17-5 advantage on the offensive glass.
Sevier ended up being the leading scorer for the team on the day, putting in 17 points on an efficient 7-9 shooting while knocking down all three of her free throws. Wooten was next up down the line, pouring in 12 on four made threes to reach double figures for the fifth time in her last seven games. Beyond these two, sophomore
Rayna Williams grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds in her 32 minutes of action, which easily surpassed the 11 that she pulled in on New Year's Eve against New Orleans to become her new career high. Nine of these boards from Williams were on the offensive end, which came just one shy of matching the all-time program record of 10 reached on two different occasions and most recently by Jackie Ododa in a game against Houston on February 1, 2005.
The Islanders will now try to bounce back in the second game of the homestand on Saturday, getting back on the court for a game against Lamar at 1 p.m.
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