LAREDO, Texas – Texas A&M International women's basketball opened Lone Star Conference play in dominating fashion, upending Eastern New Mexico by a final score of 71-43.
 
The Dustdevils (10-1, 1-0 LSC) and Greyhounds (4-3, 0-1 LSC) both had early struggles as the score was just 4-2 in the opening 3:34.
 
TAMIU then opened things up and went on a roll to lead 16-8 going into the second quarter.
 
The Dustdevils then poured it on in the second using runs of 14-2 and 9-0, outscoring Eastern New Mexico 26-8, to take a 42-16 lead into the locker room.
 
The third quarter held serve as TAMIU still held a 26-point lead as both teams battled to 13-13 in the frame.
 
The final quarter was in favor of the Dustdevils, as the bench played the entire scoring, outmatching the Greyhounds 16-14 to take home the victory.
 
TAMIU shot well yet again, shooting 47.2% from the floor, going 25-for-53, but were just 4-for-14 from three. The Dustdevils also capitalized on 17 of 27 free throw attempts.
 
On the other side, the Dustdevil defense had their best game, limiting the Greyhounds to 28.3% from the field (17-for-60), 4-for-24 (16.7%) from three and just 5-for-10 from the charity stripe.
 
TAMIU outscored Eastern New Mexico 42-26 in the paint and 39-10 in points off turnovers. Despite being outrebounded 37-27, the Dustdevils forced 34 turnovers and only turned it over 21 times.
 
TAMIU had four players reach double figures, with sophomore Clara Fernandez leading the charge with 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, six rebounds and three steals.  
 
Fellow sophomores Emily Swiercz: 11 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals and Rai Brown: 10 points, two rebounds and three steals all followed, as well as freshman Evelyn Quiroz who had 10 points, four rebounds and eight assists.
 
Senior Eva Langton was all-around stellar, scoring five points to go along with six rebounds, four assists and eight steals.
 
The Dustdevils must turn their focus to a determined #1 Lubbock Christian team that enters the KCB on Sunday, Jan. 2 for a 1 p.m. tip, after the Lady Chaps dropped their conference opener to Texas A&M-Kingsville 59-42.