The Incarnate Word women's basketball team fought back from a first-half deficit and fought off a second-half comeback bid against visiting Texas A&M University-Kingsville on Wednesday night, defeating the visitors, 68-59.

UIW sophomore Ifunanya Mora scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Cardinals on the scoresheet, but junior teammates Katy Cooke and Jocelyn Jarmon each added 18 points to the cause.

Both Jarmon and Cooke had six assists, and Jarmon was also effective on the glass, grabbing 12 rebounds to get a double-double.

The first half was a back-and-forth 20 minutes that saw nine lead changes and six tie scores before the halftime buzzer sounded with the score at 36-35, in favor of Kingsville.

That one-point halftime lead was cut down from a nine-point lead that the Javelinas had on UIW with 4:05 on the clock – but Lawson called a timeout and her team was able to tighten up on the defensive end.

The Cardinals (10-6 overall, 5-5 in the Lone Star Conference) started out the second half with an offensive surge that put them ahead, 51-42, but eventually the Javelinas fought back to tie the game at 52-52 at the 6:37-mark of the second half.

UIW responded by out-scoring TAMUK, 16-to-7 the rest of the way.

Incarnate Word and TAMU-Kingsville will face off against eachother again on Saturday in Kingsville, as the second leg of LSC play features a home-and-home matchup at the midway point.