The Javelina women played a strong first-half of basketball last week, but could not find the winning combination against Lone Star Conference foes, St. Mary’s and St. Edward’s.
The first quarter was highlighted by Junior Anastacia Mickens who scored seven of the Javelinas 11 points which helped them gain a 11-8 lead over St. Marys. In the second quarter, freshman Madison Lucas started off the scoring by nailing a three-pointer 4 minutes into the quarter. However, the Javelinas struggled to make quality stops on the defensive side of the floor and the Rattlers were able to get going.
The Rattler’s pulled away early by going up 28-17, but they were able to relinquish some of the deficit which included two three-pointers from George West Native Bridget Upton and a lay-up by Mickens.
St. Mary’s finished the second quarter by out-scoring the Blue and Gold 22-13 and gave the Rattler’s a 30-24 lead going into half time.
The pinnacle of the third was the continued great play of Mickens who contributed seven of the teams nine points, but the Blue and Gold were still in a 42-33 deficit to end the third quarter. Although the Javelinas outscored the Rattler’s 13-15 in the final quarter, it was not enough to put them on top as they fell 48-55.
Although the ladies did not come out victorious, Head Coach Michael Madrid took some positive notes from this game.
“All night our young ladies played hard and our defense put us back into position where we could win the game but unfortunately we just had a few turnovers late in the game,” Madrid said. After the game, leading scorers Upton and Mickens were proud of their teammates and how they played.
Upton, contributed 12 points along with four rebounds.
“I was really happy how we executed on defense especially late in the game and I thought Anastacia really stepped up very well,” Upton said.
Mickens, had a career high with 23 points.
“Our defense was great in the second half of the game, offensively we had great looks, but they just did not go in. We will only get better from here,” Mickens said.
“We’ll go over film tonight to see if we need to make any changes or to see if they are doing anything different from last time we played them.” Madrid said.
Despite a strong first half, the TAMUK women’s basketball team fell 78-52 to the Hilltoppers of St. Edward’s University.
St. Edwards captured the momentum early, blasting off on a 12-point run. Ten of those points came off the hand of guard Charli Becker.
18 seconds after Becker hit her last bucket of the run, redshirt senior Angelica Wall put the Javelinas on the board. Wall’s jumper catalyzed the host’s first run of the game. The 13-point hot streak saw contributions from four Javelinas.
Mickens kept the scoring alive with a layup at the 5:33 mark. With three minutes remaining in the first period, forward Daisah Purnell hit a triple to cut the visitor’s advantage to 12-
7. Two straight jumpers from sophomore Bridget Upton cut the Hilltopper lead to one. Mickens hit the go-ahead jumper with thirty seconds left to play in the frame, giving the host team their first advantage of the outing.
The Hilltoppers got things going in the second period with a 6-0 run that gave them an 18-13 advantage.
San Angelo-native Bria-Anna Soliz broke the second-quarter ice for the Blue and Gold at the free-throw line after being hacked on an in-bound play. Mickens followed Soliz’s visit to the line with a layup, cutting the Hilltopper lead to 18-17.
With their advantage at one and 4:23 to go in the first half, the Hilltoppers began a 12-point scoring streak that would go unanswered until Upton scored four points in the last few seconds of the half.
Up 30-20 at the beginning of the third period, Hilltopper guard Fairen Sutton hit a pair of triples, extending their lead to 16. A strong offensive attack kept the advantage in the hands of the Hilltoppers for the duration of the third, the largest lead being 22. A five-point effort by TAMUK cut their deficit down to 54-37 at the end of the third-quarter.
The final period of regulation was all St. Mary’s. A 24-point fame from the visitors led to a 29-point advantage with 2:20 left in action. A free-throw from Madison Lucas and an Upton-jumper brought the final score to 78-52.
Mickens and Upton each dropped a dozen points a-piece, leading TAMUK in the scoring column. Mickens and Treazure Mouton led the Blue and Gold on the boards with 6 and 5 rebounds, respectively.
The Javelinas return to LSC-action on February 15th with a homestand against Texas A&M International for the annual throwback game.