Women's Basketball 2/1/2013 12:12:00 AM

Mangan leads Dustdevils in rout of OPSU

Box Score

GOODWELL, Oklahoma (January 31, 2013) – Amanda Mangan poured in a season-high 27 points and Malika Jackson picked up her fourth double-double of the season as the TAMIU women’s basketball team scored a dominant 78-61 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State Thursday night.

Mangan, who has come on strong as of late for the Dustdevils, shot 10-14 from the field and 3-5 from three-point land. The senior from Waxahachie, Texas has scored in double digits in six consecutive games as the Dustdevils have won two of their last three.

“Amanda has been playing very consistent for us,” said Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. “She is a senior and she stepping up for us in many ways. Tonight she showed good balance in her game and I am very proud of her effort.”

Jackson finished with 14 points and a game-high 12 boards, shooting 4-7 from the field and 6-9 from the free throw line. Samantha Chacon scored in double digits for the third straight game adding 13 points and seven rebounds.

TAMIU dominated the boards out-rebounding OPSU 48-22 and made a season high 22-31 free throws in the win over the Aggies. The 78 points scored by the Dustdevils was also the highest point total of the season.

“Alexis Thomas got things going for us in the first half with some big offensive rebounds and overall we did a great job of keeping them from getting second opportunities by controlling the defensive boards,” said Coach Bento-Jackson. Re'Nikia Meshack also gave us great minutes off the bench in the second half. She did a good job limiting their top scorer and offensively she took control with handling their pressure and attacking the paint.”

The Aggies held a one-point lead late in the opening half, but TAMIU created a little space with a 7-0 run to take a 26-20 lead. OPSU kept theDustdevils from pulling away until the final minute of the half when Mangan scored five straight to give the Dustdevils a 39-28 lead at the break.

OPSU trimmed the lead down to four points with 12:40 remaining, but two free throws from Jackson followed by a Mangan three pushed the lead back out to nine points. The Aggies used a 5-1 run late in the half to pull within five points, but Mangan hit back-to-back layups to extend TAMIU’s lead to 61-52. The Dustdevils finally put the game out reach using a 15-6 run over the final five minutes to lock up the 78-61 win.

The win keeps TAMIU in sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings with a 3-4 conference record (7-12 overall), half-a-game ahead of Arkansas Fort Smith who was idle Thursday night. The Dustdevils face a tough matchup Saturday afternoon heading to Odessa to take on conference co-leader UT-Permian Basin (6-1 HC), who defeated St. Mary’s University Thursday evening 68-60. Tip off for Saturday’s game in Odessa is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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