CHADRON, Neb.  – Texas A&M International University women's basketball (0-1) opened the 2019-2020 campaign with a 66-63 setback on the road to the Chadron State Eagles (1-0) on Thursday afternoon. 

In the first 5:42, the Eagles took a 13-3 run that featured five-straight points by Melisa Kadic. 

The Dustdevils responded quickly and went on an 8-2 run in the final four minutes of the quarter. The spurt was sparked by wing Nicole Heyn's layup and was capped off by a pair of free-throws by Rachel Bonander to bring the Dustdevils within three (15-12).

In the second quarter, the Eagles scored 13 points, seven of which were scored by guard Jori Peters. Peters while Heyn registered all five points for the Dustdevils including a shot from beyond the arc with 39 seconds left in the half. 

TAMIU would ultimately head into the break faced with an 11-point deficit (28-17). 

The Dustdevils started the third stanza with back-to-back jumpers within 13 seconds by Heyn and point guard Patrycja Jaworska, respectively, to cut the deficit to seven (28-21) with 8:29 showing on the game clock.  

Later in the period, TAMIU went on a 7-2 run that came to an end on a Clara Fernandez jumper to slash the deficit to eight (39-31) with 4:49 remaining in the quarter. 

In the final quarter, the Dustdevils picked up the offensive intensity as they registered 10 consecutive points, including seven by wing Josselin Geer, in a span of 2:11. The run was sparked by Geer as she dropped in a layup at the 5:58 mark and concluded on a shot from long distance by point guard Jaworska to bring TAMIU within four with 3:47 remaining in regulation (60-56). 

The Dustdevils tried to finish the comeback as they scored five unanswered points including a layup by Fernandez and added three shots at the charity stripe that were knocked down by Heyn, Christine Ortega and Geer, respectively, to slash the deficit to one point (62-61) with 1:56 left to play.

TAMIU fell behind 66-63 with 28 seconds left as Geer put up a three-pointer that was off the mark but Fernandez hauled in a key offensive rebound that gave TAMIU that was quickly followed by a timeout to give head coach Nate Vogel time to draw up a play with nine seconds left.    

Heyn had the final opportunity to tie the game but missed the three-pointer as time expired to settle the 66-63 decision. 

Heyn finished with a game-high 23 points (8-of-15 FG, 5-of-8 FT) and a team-high six rebounds for while adding a trio of steals to her statline. Fernandez dished out a team-high six assists for the Dustdevils. 

For the Eagles, Peters (6-of-9 FG) and Kadic (7-of-10 FG) each chipped in with 17 points.  

In the end, Texas A&M International shot 39.3 percent (22-of-56) from the field, 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from three-point range and 70 percent (14-of-20) from the free-throw line while the Eagles shot 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the floor, 25 percent (5-of-20) from beyond the arc and 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from the charity stripe. The Eagles held the advantage in rebounds (34-31) while the Dustdevils led the way in blocks (3-1), steals (16-4) and assists (13-11).

The Dustdevils continue their eight-game road trip tomorrow, Saturday, November 9 to take on Black Hills State (1-0) at 3 p.m.