LAREDO, Texas  –  Texas A&M International University women's basketball (0-16, 0-4 Heartland Conference) team fell to the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Lady Lions (6-12, 3-2 Heartland Conference) by a 89-36 Heartland Conference decision at home on Thursday evening. The loss slips the Dustdevils record to 1-9 against the Lady Lions in their previous ten meetings since the 2013-14 campaign.  

UAFS jumped out to an early lead as they scored the first six points of the game, but a layup by Christine Ortega at 8:48 in the opening quarter temporarily stopped their early momentum. Following the layup, the Lady Lions strung together a quick 8-0 spurt in a span of 1:57 and put the Dustdevils down a dozen (14-2) with 6:32 remaining in the first quarter.  The first stanza concluded by a score of 32-11 in favor of Arkansas-Fort Smith.

Towards the end of the second quarter, the Dustdevils tried to fight back as they put together a 5-2 run in just 45 seconds. The run featured a three-point play by Janae Welles and a layup by Kendall Alsup with five seconds left showing on the clock and sent a 53-23 game into intermission.

UAFS would ultimately score 18 points in each quarter of the second half and would be enough to secure the victory for the Lady Lions. The largest lead of the game was sealed on the final basket of the game by Leiloni Culley with 12 seconds remaining that expanded their lead to 53 (89-36).  

Tamera Gulley contributed game highs of 14 points (7-of-9 FG) and six rebounds for the Lady Lions.

TAMIU was led by Vanessa Oyola who was the lone double-digit scorer for the Dustdevils with 10 points.

In the end, Texas A&M International shot 29.5 percent (13-of-44) from the field, 16.7 percent (3-of-18) from three-point range and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the free-throw line while the Lady Lions shot 65.5 percent (36-of-55) from the floor, 40 percent (6-of-15) from beyond the arc and 68.8 percent (11-of-16) from the charity stripe. UAFS held the advantage in rebounds (31-12), steals (11-7), assists (19-9) and blocks (2-0). The Dustdevils scored 11 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.  

The Dustdevils continue at home for a Heartland Conference matchup on Saturday, January 26 when they host Rogers State University (9-9, 2-3 Heartland Conference) at 1 p.m.