Box Score WICHITA - The Newman women's basketball team took another step toward back-to-back Heartland Conference championships with an 88-81 win over Texas A&M International Thursday night inside Fugate Gymnasium. The win was Newman's seventh-straight victory.

Texas A&M International (9-8, 1-2 Heartland) refused to be intimidated by Newman (13-2, 2-0 Heartland), and had an answer for every Newman threat early in Thursday night's contest. The Jets finally established a seven-point, 17-10 cushion after a Satoria Bell free throw with 12:38 to play, only to watch TAMIU post an 11-0 run to take a 21-17 lead after a Jennifer Johnson jumper with 9:08 to play in the half. Sam Soyez ended the Dustdevil run with a short-range jumper, and sparked a 12-2 run that gave the Jets a 29-23 edge going into the final two minutes of the half. The Jets refused to budge in the final moments of the opening period, and led 35-30 at halftime.

TAMIU opened the second half on a 5-2 spurt, and closed to within two, 37-35, after an Ashley Torres triple at the 18:44 mark. That was all it took to fire up the Jets. Soyez struck again with a trey of her own on Newman's next possession, and sparked a 10-1 run, that gave the Jet a 47-36 lead after a pair of Celeste Key free throws with 16:06 to play. Newman built its lead to as many as 16, 63-47, after a Bell jumper with 9:30 to play, and led by double digits into the final five minutes. Trailing 75-65 with 4:25 to play, TAMIU used a six-point spurt, and pulled to within 75-71 with 3:11 to play, but that was as close as TAMIU could get. Newman hit free throws down the stretch, and picked up the 88-81 win.

Satoria Bell led all scorers with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Tasha Cannon added 17 points and seven boards of her own, despite playing just 19 minutes due to foul trouble. Sam Soyez dumped in a career-high 15 points, while Kianna Flannagan finished with 11 points in the win.

Newman shot 43.3 percent (26-60) in the contest, and hit 44.4 percent (8-18) from beyond the arc. TAMIU out-rebounded Newman 53-40 in the contest, led by a 17-rebound effort from Nikkiti Scott.

With the win, the Jets improve to 13-2 on the season, and 2-0 in Heartland Conference play. They will return to action Saturday, hosting St. Mary's in a 2:30 p.m. contest inside Fugate Gymnasium.