SPEARFISH, S.D. – Texas A&M International University women's basketball (0-2) continued their eight-game road trip but fell in non-conference play to the Black Hills State Yellow Jackets (2-0) on Saturday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets applied pressure on offense as they took a 14-2 run that featured 11 points that were registered by Racquel Wientjes.
TAMIU quickly countered with four minutes to play in the opening quarter as they took a 9-2 run in a span of 1:12. The spurt was ignited by a jump shot by senior Christine Ortega and was capped off on a pair of shots from the charity stripe by junior Eva Langton to cut the deficit to seven (19-12).
The Yellow Jackets ultimately took a double-digit lead entering the second quarter (27-17).
TAMIU started the second quarter strong by scoring a dozen unanswered points including a layup by senior Julynne Da Silva Sa, at the 6:56 mark, that was later followed by a shot from long distance by sophomore Josselin Geer to knot the game at 27 apiece. The scoring spree concluded on a layup by Geer to give TAMIU its first lead of the game (29-27) with 5:18 left in the first half.
BHSU took the lead back when Ashlee Beacom converted on the final bucket of the second quarter to give them a one-point edge heading into the break (36-35).
In the third quarter, the Dustdevils and the Yellow Jackets played a very close game as there were a total of 10 lead changes, including five from each team during the quarter.
Da Silva Sa scored nine of the Dustdevils 20 points in the third stanza but the Yellow Jackets held a two-point lead heading into the final quarter (57-55).
Wientjes compiled a 12-point fourth quarter that propelled the Yellow Jackets to a 78-56 victory.
Langton scored a team-high 14 points (4-of-7 FG) while Da Silva Sa contributed with 13 points (6-of-9 FG) and led the Dustdevils in rebounds with six. Nicole Heyn dished out five assists while and ended with a game-high six steals.
Wientjes ended the game with 35 points (13-of-16 FG, 8-of-10 3FG) while Morgan Hamm finished with 22 points (8-of-13 FG, 3-of-6 3FG) for the Yellow Jackets.
In the end, Texas A&M International shot 36.7 percent (18-of-49) from the field, 22.7 percent (5-of-22) from three-point range and 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the free-throw line while BHSU shot 54.5 percent (30-of-55) from the floor, 40.6 percent (13-of-32) from beyond the arc and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from the charity stripe. The Yellow Jackets held the advantage in rebounds (32-20), blocks (3-0), assists (21-9) and steals (14-12).
The Dustdevils continue on the road, Monday, November 11 and will take on Northern New Mexico (1-4) at 8 p.m.
