LAREDO, Texas - Texas A&M International dropped Oklahoma Panhandle State 72-60 in a must win contest on Thursday night at TAMIU's Kinesiology & Convocation Building. The Dustdevil win, combined with Newman's 67-63 win over UT-Permian Basin, leaves TAMIU in control of its own destiny in regards to grabbing the fourth seed in the upcoming Heartland Conference Tournament.
TAMIU and UTPB are both 8-9 in Heartland play after tonight's games but the Dustdevils hold the tiebreaker by virtue of a 2-0 season sweep of the Falcons. The Dustdevils can clinch a tournament berth with a win over Lubbock Christian on Saturday or a UTPB home loss to Oklahoma Christian. TAMIU would also claim the fourth and final seed in both teams lost their regular season finale.
TAMIU (12-13 overall) held a comfortable 37-23 lead over the Aggies but OPSU whittled the lead down to 45-39 on a jumper by Tatyana Bell at the 13:19 mark of the second half. TAMIU led by seven points midway through the second half but back-to-back 3-pointers by Stella Gharzarian and Jessica Prieto would push the Dustdevils to a 57-45 lead at the 9:11 mark.
The Dustdevils would lead by double-digits the rest of the game. Gharzarian pushed the lead to 16 points on a left-side 3-pointer by at the 6:27 mark and Prieto provided TAMIU a 17 point with a jumper at the 2:33 mark.
TAMIU finished with a huge 49-28 rebounding edge over the Lady Aggies.
Prieto finished with a team-high four 3-pointers and 20 points. Kiki Mathews finished with 19 points, a team-high six assists and eight rebounds. Bezait Anbeese contributed a career-high 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Alexis Thomas led the team with 10 rebounds to go with four points and two assists and Ghazarian chipped in with nine points, five rebounds and five assists.
