LAREDO, Texas  –  Texas A&M International women's basketball (0-25, 0-13 Heartland Conference) dropped a 74-50 home decision to the St. Edward's University Hilltoppers (15-12, 7-6 Heartland Conference) on Wednesday evening. The Dustdevils now move to 2-8 against the Hilltoppers dating back to the 2015-16 campaign.  

In the opening quarter, the Dustdevils jumped out to a 6-3 spurt that was capped off on a Vanessa Oyola jump shot at 6:01 to give TAMIU a one-point edge (6-5) with 6:01 showing on the clock.

Oyola tallied a total of seven points in the first quarter but the Dustdevils trailed 13-11 after the first buzzer.

In the second quarter, Bailey Hill went on a 7-0 run including a pair of three-pointers that put the Hilltoppers up 22-11 with 6:42 left in the half. St. Edward's picked up the defensive intensity as the only bucket that was scored was a shot from long distance by Oyola with two minutes remaining. The Hilltoppers took a 28-14 lead into intermission.

In the third period, the Dustdevils outscored the Hilltoppers by one point (22-21). Christine Ortega tallied seven points in the quarter that was highlighted by a three-point play with 6:32 left. The Dustdevils scored the next two baskets including a shot from beyond the arc by Oyola at 5:46 and a jump shot by Kendall Alsup to cut the Dustdevils' deficit to a dozen (40-28) with 4:34 remaining in the third stanza.  

The Hilltoppers continued to put points on the board and took a 49-36 lead heading into the final quarter.

In the last period of play, St. Edward's stepped on the gas as they strung together a 7-0 run that was ignited by a pair of free throws by Maryam Wilcher at 3:10 and was capped off on a pair of free throws by Alex Box to extend their lead to 26, their largest of the game, with 1:50 remaining in the game.

The Hilltoppers would ultimately take the Heartland Conference victory on the road.  

Both Oyola (6-of-13 FG, 3-of-8 3FG) and Ortega (6-of-11 FG) led the way for TAMIU by pouring in 15 points apiece. Ortega also added six rebounds and four assists to her statline while Ciera Walker had a team-high nine boards on the evening.

For St. Edward's, Hill had a game-high 27 points (9-of-12 FG, 6-of-9 3 FG) and finished with six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.

In the end, Texas A&M International shot 40 percent (20-of-50) from the field, 25 percent (5-of-20) from three-point range and 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from the free-throw line while the Hilltoppers shot 40.7 percent (24-of-59) from the floor, 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from beyond the arc and 76.2 percent (16-of-21) from the charity stripe. St. Edward's held the advantage in steals (16-6) and blocks (1-0), assists (17-14) while the Dustdevils led the way in rebounds (35-33) . TAMIU also scored nine second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds.

The Dustdevils host their regular season finale on Saturday, March 2 against St. Mary's University (16-9, 6-7 Heartland Conference) at 5:30 p.m.