OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (December 31, 2015) -- TAMIU Women's Basketball closed out the 2015 portion of their season with a 78-82 loss against Oklahoma Christian on Thursday night. The New Year's Eve contest places the Dustdevils at 4-7 overall, which includes a 1-2 record in Heartland Conference play.

Despite the OCU's early drive in the first quarter, the Dustdevils battled back to take a six-point lead at the half into the locker room. After the intermission, TAMIU increased their lead to an eight-point gap over the Eagles by the end of the third quarter.

The Dustdevils and Eagles traded leads through the fourth quarter, including the final minute. Senior Guard Keiona Mathews nailed a three with 1:23 remaining to give the Dustdevils a 76-75 advantage. However, two TAMIU fouls allowed the Eagles to sneak back into the scoring, forcing the 78-82 loss. The Eagles, in total, pushed for a 30-point drive in the final ten minutes of play to defeat the Dustdevils.
TAMIU's Seniors drove the team in their efforts against OCU. Guard Keiona Mathews led the Dustdevils with 24 points. Following closely behind, Senior Guard Jessica Prieto notched 23 points of her own. Chelsea Salom contributed 17 points and 7 rebounds.

Bento-Jackson added, "We had plenty of opportunities for scoring opportunities that we did not execute. We also put OCU on the free throw way too much and they capitalized on it."

Up next, the Dustdevils will travel to Wichita, Kansas where they will face their first contest of 2016 against the Newman Jets on Saturday, January 2nd. The action will start at 1pm CST.

"With the short turnaround, we need to put this behind us and focus on Newman." says Bento-Jackson.

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