HOUSTON – Behind junior guard
Rachel Arthur's game-high 21 points and junior forward
Anna Strickland's fourth double-double of the season, the HBU women's basketball team was able to knock off visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 59-54, Thursday for the first time in program history.
Arthur shot 10-of-15 from the floor and also had four rebounds, four assists, and three steals in a team-high 36 minutes played to lead HBU (9-12 overall, 3-7 SLC). She finished two points shy of tying her career high. Strickland scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. She also had two of the Huskies' three blocks, two steals, and one assist.
Monet Neal also scored 11 points and was a huge defensive presence, as she pulled down six rebounds and forced three charging calls. HBU shot 45 percent from the floor in the contest.
TAMUCC (10-11 overall, 6-4 SLC) was led by its leading scorer in Shay Weaver, who scored 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. She also pulled down five rebounds in 36 minutes played. Jennifer Ramirez scored eight points and dished out a team-best four assists, while Olivia Fouty grabbed a team-best six rebounds. The Islanders shot 42 percent from the floor in the game.
TAMUCC started off the game scoring 10 of the first 14 points, forcing HBU to call a timeout down six nearly five minutes into the contest.
Weaver scored the first four points for the Islanders, but was held in check the remainder of the half, as were most of the Islanders. HBU held the visitors to just eight points in the final 16:20 of the half.
After the Islanders' Ashanti Plummer scored on a layup to give the visitors an eight-point advantage, 12-4, HBU scored eight-straight points to tie the contest at 12-all. Arthur's game-tying jumper at the 11:27-mark forced TAMUCC to call a timeout.
Strickland gave HBU its first lead of the game and
Tayler Jefferson forced a steal on the next Islanders possession, as HBU closed out the half on a 20-6 run, as HBU led the Islanders at the break, 34-18. A
Heidi Sihvola three-pointer sparked the run. The only basket scored for TAMUCC was by Plummer, as the rest of the points were from the charity stripe.
Arthur led all players with 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Ramirez led the Islanders with six points. HBU shot 44 percent from the floor compared to 29 percent for TAMUCC.
Jefferson's layup at the 15:50-mark gave HBU its largest lead of the game, 38-22. Back-to-back steals by Kassie Jones that resulted in points cut the lead to 13, 38-25, and gave the Islanders some life with 14:46 to go in regulation.
A layup by Arthur at the 11:16-mark gave the Huskies a 14-point lead, 44-30, but TAMUCC used a 12-2 run in a span of five minutes cut the Huskies' lead to only four, 46-42, with 6:24 remaining. Consecutive steals and fast-break layups for Jones culminated the run.
Camesha Davis' jumper was sandwiched between two Neal layups, as HBU led by six, 50-44, with five-and-a-half to go in regulation.
Arthur forced a steal which resulted in a layup by Strickland, as HBU led by five, 55-50, with 1:46 remaining. Weaver rainbowed a three-pointer 17 seconds later to cut the Islanders' deficit to two, 55-53. HBU made all four free throw attempts to hold on for the win.
Arthur led HBU with seven second-half points, while Weaver had 15 points to lead the Islanders. Jones had eight steals, all coming in the second half.
HBU plays at Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 4 pm.
