KINGSVILLE, Texas – In the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament, Texas A&M International women's basketball showed that March Madness is truly about survive and advance. Down nine points in the fourth quarter, the #9 seed Dustdevils sent the game to overtime and won at the buzzer over #8 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville, 66-64 to seal its first postseason victory as an NCAA member program.
 
"Guts, we had some big time guts," said head coach Nate Vogel. "Tonight, we laid it on the line and gutted it out."
 
Through one quarter of play the score read 14-10 in favor of the Javelinas. Despite TAMIU struggling shooting the ball, the defense was locked in and kept it close the opening ten minutes.
 
The Dustdevils cut the deficit in half in the second quarter, taking the stanza 16-14 to head into the locker room down just 28-26.
 
First half shooting numbers for TAMIU were 8-for-21 from the floor, 2-for-7 from three, but were a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line, while TAMUK shot 12-for-25 from the field, 4-for-6 from deep and 0-for-1 from the free-throw line.
 
Out of the locker room, the Javelinas upped its lead to 43-37 after a 14-11 third quarter in their favor.
 
In the fourth quarter, TAMUK scored eight of the first 13 points to make the lead 51-42 with 6:21 remaining, and from there, the Dustdevils played with grit and determination.
 
TAMIU over the final 6:21 didn't allow the Javelinas to score again and used a 9-0 run to send the game to overtime.
 
The Dustdevils opened overtime on a 6-2 run to open a 57-53 lead, but TAMUK countered with a 7-0 run to take a 60-57 lead with 20 seconds left.
 
TAMIU scored out of a timeout quickly to make it 60-59 with 16 seconds left and the Javelinas made both free-throws following. The Dustdevils then got two free ones of their own and again TAMUK made there's as the score now read 64-61 with 10 seconds left.
 
With one last chance, sophomore Emily Swiercz came up clutch with a three pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining and drew a foul on the play.
 
Swiercz, a 90% free-throw shooter entering the game stepped to the line and missed the shot, the rebound landed in the hand of senior Eva Langton who tried to throw it up, but after contact the ball landed on the floor and sophomore Rai Brown scooped it up, laid it off the glass with .4 seconds and TAMIU won the game at the buzzer.
 
"I have no idea how any of what happened [final seconds] worked," said Vogel. "That was just our team fighting and getting the win."
For the game, the Dustdevils shot 38.6% (22-for-57) from the floor and 29.4% (5-for-17) from deep and capitalized on 17 of 22 free-throws.
 
On the other side, the Javelinas finished 24-for-56 (42.9%) from the floor and 6-for-19 (31.6%) from behind the arc and 10-for-15 at the charity stripe.
 
Five Dustdevils scored in double figures with sophomore Clara Fernandez leading the way with 15 points, nine rebounds, one block and a steal.
 
Brown scored 14 points with nine rebounds, while Swiercz chipped in another 13 points.
 
Langton finished with the game's only double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, while freshman Evelyn Quiroz contributed 11 points off the bench.
 
TAMIU punches its ticket to Frisco, Texas and continues the LSC Tournament run against top seeded West Texas A&M, in a rematch of a Saturday, Feb. 27 game in Canyon, Texas won by the Lady Buffs. Opening tip from the Comerica Center is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday, Mar. 4.