CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team gave Southland Conference rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi all they could handle despite playing without their two leading scorers.  The Islanders knocked off the Cardinals 63-54 on Thursday night.

The Cardinals (5-13, 2-5) played a total of seven players due to injuries, but they were able to hang close to the Islanders (10-9, 6-2) the entire game.  The first half was particularly close throughout.  UIW briefly took a one-point lead with 9:10 left in the half on a jumper by Jazmine Holman (Arlington/Arlington Bowie HS).  The Islanders were able to go into halftime with a 31-28 lead after Camesha Davis made a jumper at the buzzer.

The home Islanders used a 9-2 run midway through the second half to take a game-high 10-point lead with 10:33 remaining.  The Cardinals countered by scoring the next six points while holding AMCC scoreless for over five minutes.  Unfortunately, UIW was unable to score many points during the same time period.  They still trailed by four points with under two minutes to play when the Islanders finally grabbed control of the game.  Ashanti Plummer scored and drew a foul with 1:52 left.  She missed the free throw, but Olivia Fouty grabbed the rebound and laid in another score to make it an 8-point margin.

The Cardinals shot 52.0 percent from the field in the first half and 39.7 percent overall.  They were 1-for-6 from three-point range and made 7-of-8 free throw attempts.  Freshman Melina Merritt (Round Rock/Cedar Ridge HS) led the team in scoring for a second straight game with 15 points.  Yvonne Maosa (Mansfield/Mansfield HS) added 13 points while Holman had 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.  Shanise Brooks (Topeka, KS/Highland Park HS) chipped in with eight points, nine rebounds and four steals.

The Islanders shot 41.1 percent from the field, made 4-of-13 from three-point range and were 13-of-21 at the charity stripe.  They had 12 more rebounds than the Cardinals.  Shay Weaver led all players with 22 points while grabbing seven rebounds.  Davis and Jennifer Ramirez each scored in double figures while Fouty grabbed 10 rebounds.

The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Nicholls.
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