LAREDO, Texas  –  Texas A&M International women's basketball (0-17, 0-5 Heartland Conference) team suffered a 65-50 Heartland Conference setback at home to the Rogers State University Hillcats (10-9, 3-3 Heartland Conference) on Saturday afternoon. The Dustdevils are now 3-4 against the Hillcats dating back to the 2015-16 season.  

In the opening quarter, TAMIU and Rogers State exchanged baskets but the Dustdevils stepped on the gas as they scored eight consecutive points in a span of 1:04. During that time, Troi Lucas and Tacoya Allen drained back-to-back three-pointers to give the Dustdevils a four point (12-8) advantage with 2:59 showing on the first quarter clock. Lilly Garner responded by hitting a three-pointer with 40 seconds remaining to cut the Hillcats deficit to two (15-13) after one quarter of play.

Christine Ortega scored the opening four points of the second quarter for the Dustdevils including layups at 9:46 and 7:53 to extend their lead to four (19-15). Kendall Alsup stepped up for TAMIU and knocked down a shot from downtown to give the Dustdevils a 22-16 lead with 4:57 left in the first half.

TAMIU would later use a 5-2 scoring run that featured two layups by Ortega in 1:15 which sent a 31-27 game into intermission.

Rogers State would make crucial defensive adjustments in the third quarter and held the Dustdevils to seven points. In the final 3:43 of the third quarter, the Hillcats used 7-1 spurt including five points by Alicia Brown to give Rogers State a two point edge (40-38).

In the last quarter, Lauren Schuldt used scored seven consecutive unanswered points between 8:53 and 7:22 that put the Hillcats up by double-digits (49-39).    

Schuldt would later make a free throw that would give the Hillcats their largest lead and while putting the finishing touches on a 15 point win.

Schuldt recorded a double-double that including game highs of 24 points (8-of-12 FG, 8-9 FT) and 10 rebounds while adding a pair of blocks to her statline for the Hillcats.

TAMIU was led by Ortega for who posted a team-high 12 points while Alsup scored a season-high 11 points (4-of-5 FG) and a team-high six rebounds.

In the end, Texas A&M International shot 31.3 percent (15-of-48) from the field, 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from three-point range and 50 percent (14-of-28) from the free-throw line while the Hillcats shot 39 percent (23-of-59) from the floor, 15 percent (3-of-20) from beyond the arc and 76.2 percent (16-of-21) from the charity stripe. Rogers State held the advantage in rebounds (40-25), steals (13-6), assists (13-7) and blocks (2-0). TAMIU also scored four second-chance points off four offensive rebounds.  

The Dustdevils begin a three-game Heartland Conference road trip in Austin, Texas on Saturday, February 2 for a showdown against St. Edward's University (10-10, 2-4 Heartland Conference) at 1 p.m.