Box Score LAREDO, Texas – In a fierce battle between the Heartland Conference's top teams, Texas A&M International positioned itself as the lone leader with a 79-69 victory over rival St. Mary's on Saturday at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. The two teams entered the contest tied for first place with identical 8-1 conference records, but the Dustdevils' victory pushes them alone into first place as the only full member at 9-1.
The TAMIU (13-3, 9-1 Heartland) victory also serves as revenge against the Rattlers.
In last year's regular season finale, St. Mary's won a 69-67 affair on a buzzer beater to eliminate the Dustdevils from postseason play.
This year, the Dustdevils took the contest while also seizing the conference's top seed with 10 games left.
St. Mary's (13-3, 8-2 Heartland) turned the ball over 12 times, resulting in 12 points for the Dustdevils. The Rattlers also committed 23 personal fouls, sending the sharp-shooting Dustdevils to the line – where they went 27-for-30 (90 percent).
Leading the way from the line, senior forward Malika Jackson shot 15-for-16 on her way to a double-double with a game-high 27 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Her 27 points stand as her career high, bringing her season average to a massive 15.4 while she also averages 8.7 boards a game.
As a cherry-on-top statistic, Jackson played the entire 40 minute game.
Joining Jackson in the double-double club, junior Jessica Woo scored 10 points and pulled in 13 boards in 25 minutes off the bench.
Sophomore guard Jessica Prieto, a Laredo native, scored a career-high 17 points while logging all 40 minutes of action. She pulled in six rebounds, delivered five assists and blocked two crucial shots.
Senior guard Re'Nikia Meshack scored 10 points while dealing two assists and logging a steal, and two-time Heartland Conference Player of the Week Samantha Chacon scored nine points with two rebounds. Junior guards Stella Ghazarian and Mason Hawk came off the bench to score four and two points, respectively.
Alexis Thomas played 32 minutes for the Dustdevils and pulled in six momentum-shifting rebounds despite not scoring in the game.
The first-place Dustdevils will next line up against Oklahoma Christian (8-7, 4-4 Heartland) on the road on Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. The Dustdevils return to the TAMIU KCB on Jan. 30 to take on Oklahoma Panhandle at 5:30 p.m.
