SPEARFISH, S.D. – Texas A&M International women's basketball tipped off the 2022-23 season on the road, falling to host Black Hills State 80-60.
TAMIU (0-1, 0-0 LSC) trailed early as the first quarter saw a combined 37 points with the Yellow Jackets (1-0, 0-0 RMAC) holding a 22-15 edge.
The second quarter was extremely defensive, with the Dustdevils outscoring Black Hills State just 11-7 to trail just 29-26 at the half.
Out of the locker room, TAMIU fought back completely, and eventually led 44-34 with 4:39 remaining.
As time winded down, the Yellow Jackets over the final 4:21 outscored the Dustdevils 15-6 and the TAMIU lead was 50-49 heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth, Black Hills State fired on all cylinders, scoring 31 points, making six of seven three-pointers and limited the Dustdevils to just 10 points to take the victory.
For the game, the Dustdevils shot 50% (24-for-48) from the floor and only 3-for-10 (30%) from deep, but free-throws were only at 42.9% going 9-for-21.
On the other side, the Yellow Jackets finished 30-for-62 (48.4%) from the floor, but were 12-for-26 (46.2%) from behind the perimeter.
Junior Rai Brown had a dominant performance for TAMIU, scoring 24 of the team's 60 points on 10-for-16 shooting, adding three rebounds and four steals.
Sophomore MiLinda Arguellez followed with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting and had three rebounds in nine minutes off the bench.
Junior Clara Fernandez chipped in eight points, while fellow junior Emily Swiercz and sophomore Evelyn Quiroz each had seven points.
The Dustdevils look to end the weekend road trip with a victory on Saturday, Nov. 12 as they face Chadron State at 5 p.m. in Chadron, Neb.
