Home sweet home was certainly not the case for the women’s Wednesday evening showdown against Texas A&M Corpus Christi as the team barely escaped with a 61-59 win.
The first two quarters were tightly contested with the Wildcats coming out on top 15-13 in the first, after a half-court buzzer-beater by Corpus Christi sophomore guard Lajaneira Robinson, and 14-13 in the second.
With a 29-26 lead coming into the third quarter, the women never lost their lead in the second half. Each team had significant runs, however, the Wildcats scoring spurts came at the right time and gave the team comfortable margins to cruise to a win.
At the 6:16 mark of the third quarter, with the score being 31-30, the women started a 9-0 run with a three-pointer from sophomore point guard Breanna Wright, and two straight threes from freshman guard Josie Larson.
In the fourth quarter, the Islanders inched closer to Wildcats with a 51-50 score, however, the team put together an important 8-0 run, lasting until 47 seconds were left in the game. Corpus Christi finished the game on a quick 9-2 run, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats crawled out victorious.
“I’m really proud of our players, it was a real hard fought battle,” said head coach Julie Goodenough. “Our rebounding effort really helped us a lot tonight.”
Wright was the key contributor in the game, scoring 16 points with five assists and five rebounds. Senior forward Sierra Allen also performed well posting a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
With the win, the women improve to 13-6 on the year, and 7-2 in conference, while the Islanders slip to 10-8 overall, and 3-4 in Southland play.
“To be 7-2 at the halfway point of conference play is big time for this team, for them to realize we’ve had a lot of success in the first half,” Goodenough said. “It’s not going to get easier though, we’ve got more road games left than we do home games.”
The Wildcats are off this weekend and will have a week to rest before returning to action next Wednesday on the road against Lamar.
