TULSA, Okla. –  Texas A&M International University women's basketball season concluded after dropping a 91-43 decision to the top-seeded Lubbock Christian University Lady Chaparrals in the first round of the Heartland Conference Championship on Thursday evening.
The Dustdevils put together a 5-0 spurt in the opening quarter. Only 33 seconds into the game, Christine Ortega found Alliyah Bryant beyond the arc to break the scoring ice for the Dustdevils. Ortega then sank a layup to give TAMIU a three-point edge with 8:49 showing on the clock (5-2).
Allie Schulte scored nine points in the first period to help push Lubbock Christian to a 24-13 lead after the first buzzer.
In the second quarter, the Dustdevils picked up their lone basket of the period when Kendall Alsup connected on a three-pointer that cut the Dustdevils' deficit to 25 (41-16) with 3:39 remaining in the period.
Lubbock Christian extended its lead as they scored seven consecutive points in the final 1:59 that sent a 48-16 game into intermission.
The Lady Chaps opened the third quarter by converting on a trio of triples by Allie Schulte, Caitlyn Cunyus and Maddi Chitsey, respectively, that gave them a 57-16 lead with 6:42 left in the period.
TAMIU quickly countered and compiled a 7-2 run in a span of 1:50 that was sparked by a Ciera Walker layup and was capped off by Ortega who finished a layup on a feed from Vanessa Oyola to make it a 59-23 matchup in favor of the Lady Chaps with 4:37 left in the quarter.
The number one seed eventually took a 69-27 advantage heading into the last quarter.
In the final quarter, the Dustdevils tried to mount a comeback as they scored eight straight points including six points that were tallied by Troi Lucas in a span of 1:35. Lucas converted on a pair of jump shots and a layup to slash the deficit to 47 with 3:09 to play.
Lubbock Christian would ultimately hang on to take the first-round victory.
Lucas led the way for the Dustdevils by registering a career-high 16 points (7-of-9 FG, 2-of-2 3FG) in 19 minutes on the court. Ortega followed with a game-high 10 rebounds and finished two points shy of a double-double.
For the Lady Chaps, Chitsey scored a game-high 20 points (7-of-8 FG) while Schulte scored 14 points (5-of-10 FG) while adding five boards and four assists to her statline.
In the end, Texas A&M International shot 28.8 percent (17-of-59) from the field, 25.9 percent (7-of-27) from three-point range and 100 percent (2-of-2) from the free-throw line while the Lady Chaps shot 54.4 percent (31-of-57) from the floor, 50 percent (8-of-16) from beyond the arc and 75 percent (21-of-28) from the charity stripe. Lubbock Christian held the advantage in rebounds (40-32), steals (12-6), assists (19-7) and blocks (7-0).
