CORPUS CHRISTI – The HBU women's basketball team could not get in a rhythm offensively as they dropped their first Southland Conference game of the season to the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders in the American Bank Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Huskies (6-8, 2-1 SLC) started off strong from the field, making two of their first three jumpers of the game. After Abbey Sutherland won the opening tip for HBU, N'Denasija Collins got the scoring started for the Huskies, making a mid-range jumper on an assist from Timia Jefferson. After an Islanders (11-6, 3-0 SLC) made basket, HBU's next trip down the floor resulted in a made free throw from Collins to give the Huskies a 3-2 advantage.
 
The teams would exchange buckets until the 2:41 mark in the quarter when the Islanders took a 13-9 lead. Following a Lauryn Mapusua made free throw, Enya Maguire checked in for the Huskies and quickly made a three pointer to cut the deficit to just one. The Islanders closed out the quarter on a made layup to take a 15-12 lead into the second quarter.
 
HBU got into foul trouble early in the second quarter, recording their fifth team foul with just over five minutes to play in the half. They sent the Islanders to the line eight times where they were able to knock down seven of their attempts. Despite the foul trouble, they were still able to knock down 50 percent of their shots from the field for 15 points, led by Collins and Mapusua with four points each. The Islanders took a 36-27 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Islanders turned their defense up a few notches, holding the Huskies to just 5 of 25 shooting from the field in the second half for 17 points. The Huskies responded with great defense of their own, holding the Islanders to 9 of 26 shooting from the field for 21 points in the second half. However, the first half lead built by TAMCC was too much to overcome.

"We didn't match the toughness that Corpus had today," head coach Donna Finnie said after the game. "Our main goal was to keep them off the offensive glass and we didn't do that. We didn't attack their defense enough either and played on our heels. Going forward as a staff we will watch film and prepare the team for the next game, but we do need to get back to fundamentals to eliminate some of the same mistakes we made on this road trip."

Kennedy Wilson led the way offensively for the Huskies, scoring 11 points on three of eight shooting from the field and a perfect four of four from the foul line. Sutherland set a career high in rebounds with nine in 40 minutes. Maguire added five points while Mapusua and Collins each dropped in seven points. Marilyn Nzoiwu and Jefferson each added four.
 
The Islanders extended their win streak to six and their SLC win streak to three, to keep their grasp on the top spot in the conference early in the schedule. Makinna Serrata had 20 points and nine rebounds while Alecia Westbrook had 11 points and nine rebounds.

The Huskies finally return home for their first game in Sharp Gym since they beat Southwestern Assemblies of God (TX) on December 11. They face the New Orleans Privateers, tipoff scheduled for 5:00 p.m.