WICHITA, Kan. — A tight, low-scoring first half opened up into a fast-paced second half, as the Newman women's basketball team fell behind and was not able to get back into it in a 58-36 loss on the road at Texas A&M International Thursday evening in Heartland Conference action.
KEY SEQUENCE
A cold-shooting first half for both teams extended into the third quarter, but the Dustdevils (10-8, 7-3 Heartland) didn't take long to shake out of it, missing their first two field goals of the second half before hitting on 9-of-11 the rest of the third quarter, scoring the first 10 points of the second half to turn a slim two-point lead into a 25-13 advantage over the Jets (9-9, 3-7 Heartland) in just over four minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-A slow start by both teams gave way to a quick burst, with TAMIU hitting a 3-pointer for the first points of the game, and a big Natalia Hausmann offensive board leading to the game-tying triple from Shaunice Robinson with 7:37 left in the opening quarter.
-After three minutes with no scoring, Brianna Caldwell answered a Dustdevil bucket with a 3-pointer off a Cierra Tjaden feed to give the Jets their first lead of the game at 6-5 at the 4:02 mark. Another offensive board two minutes later led to a Tjaden jumper that stretched the lead to 8-5.
-Newman held that lead for over four minutes spanning the first and second quarter until TAMIU hit a 3-pointer to tie things up at the 7:35 mark of the second period. The hosts turned that into a 10-8 lead before Robinson laid one in to tie it back up before the Dustdevils went on a quick 5-0 run to jump back ahead.
-Caldwell's second trey of the game capped a possession that lasted over 40 seconds, as the Jets got two more offensive boards to pull it within two at 15-13 as the clock ticked under two minutes to play, a score that held as the game went into the half.
-The Dustdevils missed five consecutive field goals from the end of the second quarter to the first few minutes of the third, giving the Jets the room to get back in the game, but roared back to hit eight of their next nine and take control.
-The Jets found their footing again in the final minutes of the third quarter, as Harrison hit a pair of jumpers around a Robinson bucket, but TAMIU was hot from beyond the arc as well to keep the lead in the double digits.
-Newman went on a short 5-0 run early in the fourth to make it 45-28, and a Harrison free throw followed by a 3-pointer from Iva Krstevska and a layup out of Tjaden cut the lead to 50-34 with 4:02 to play. The Jets held TAMIU scoreless for a stretch of 4:28 over that span.
NOTES
-Neither team even attempted a free throw for the first 22 minutes of the game, with the Jets finishing the game with only five tries from the line. It is the first Jets game since at least the 2008-09 season that saw neither team attempt a free throw in a half. It was Newman's fewest attempts in a game since they were held to three last season against Lubbock Christian.
-Robinson led the way with nine points, while Harrison had her most productive game of her career, setting a career-high with 30 minutes played, tying a career-best with six rebounds and going for seven points.
-Tjaden was all over the stat sheet as well, scoring four points as well as leading the Jets with both seven rebounds and four assists while adding a steal. The junior was 2-of-2 from the field, the only player to shoot better than 50 percent. Caldwell posted six points and three rebounds, while Hausmann put up five points and five boards and Erica Olerich added six rebounds and two steals.
-Both teams were cold in the first half, combining to miss at least 10 straight shots on two separate occasions. Overall in the first 20 minutes, the two sides were 11-of-60 from the field, or just 18.3 percent. The Jets picked that up to 39.1 percent in the second half, but the Dustdevils were just a bit hotter, converting on 55.6 percent of their attempts over the second half.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets finish up the short road trip with a bus ride to San Antonio to face St. Mary's in a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday.
