LAREDO, Texas - Texas A&M International snapped a two-game losing streak with a dominating 68-53 win over Rogers State on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology & Convocation Building. The win keeps TAMIU (10-11, 6-7 Heartland) in contention for a Heartland Conference Tournament bid with five conference games remaining to be played.
Rogers State (7-14, 5-8) led 17-15 with nine minutes remaining in the first half but the Dustdevils ended the period with a 14-5 run to take a 29-22 lead at the break. Rebounding was a decisive factor during that run, with back-to-back offensive rebounds leading to a third chance short jumper by Bezait Anbesse giving the Dustdevils a 26-22 lead at the 1:03 mark. The run was capped by a quick release 3-pointer by Jessica Woo on an inbounds pass from Alexis Thomas with only nine seconds remaining in the half.
Rogers State cut TAMIU's lead to 29-24 with a couple of free throws less than 30 seconds into the second half but TAMIU went on another run, outscoring the Hillcats 15-2 over the next eight minutes to take a 44-26 lead at the 11:57 mark. The momentum continued with Keke Mathews pushing the Dustdevil lead to 50-30 with a put-back jumper at the 9:42 mark. Rogers State would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the game.
TAMIU out-rebounded Rogers State 40-37 while committing a season-low four turnovers. A total of 12 TAMIU steals led to 17 turnovers by the Hillcats.
Jessica Prieto made three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 26 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. Mathews finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and a team-high four assists and Woo contributed 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
TAMIU has a couple of key road conference games next week. The Dustdevils will play at UT-Permian Basin on Thursday and St. Edward's on Saturday.
