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KINGSVILLE – Tarleton led 60-55 with less than a minute remaining, but would finish the game being outscored 8-2 over the final 52 seconds and Texas A&M-Kingsville slipped past the No. 25 Tarleton TexAnns, 63-62, at Hampton Inn Court in Kingsville on Saturday.

 

Following a pair of free throws from Shelby Adamson at the 00:52 mark, TAMUK's Angela Franklin converted two fast break points off of a Tarleton turnover that pulled the Javelinas back within three points, 60-57 with 00:47 seconds left. TAMUK fouled Sonya Sundberg on the next possession and the junior point guard sank both attempts to put the TexAnns back on top by five points, 62-57 with 00:45 remaining on the game clock.

 

Just six seconds later, Franklin made a lay-up to pull the Javelinas back within three points and TAMUK fouled again. Adamson missed the one-in-one attempt and the Javelinas pushed the ball back down the court where Felicia Soza found the bottom of the net to make it a 62-61 game still in favor of the TexAnns with 00:24 left in regulation.

 

Following a Tarleton turnover with 00:21 on the clock, Franklin missed a jumper at the other end and Shedera Bowman was there on the rebound for the TexAnns. After a timeout was called, the TexAnns turned the ball over again and TAMUK got the ball back. Kayla Naylor went in for a lay-up with 00:03 left, but Sundberg was charged with a blocking foul. Naylor made both free throw attempts to put the Javelinas up 63-62. The TexAnns inbounded the ball and Sundberg had a good look at a three-pointer, but it was too strong and fired off the back of the iron.

 

"Sonya stepped up and tried to take a charge," Tarleton head coach Ronnie Hearne said. "I thought when we had that five-point lead, and we gave up two layups we didn't do a good job executing.  They ran the floor and we just stood there to get the first layup. We also made two critical turnovers that allowed them to come back and win the game."

The loss dropped the TexAnns to 16-4 overall and 3-2 in Lone Star Conference South Division play. The Javelinas meanwhile improve to 16-4 overall as well, but move to 4-1 in the division with a game up on the TexAnns. TAMUK has now won two of the last three games against the TexAnns.

 

Tarleton trailed by eight points at half-time, but TAMUK sank a three-pointer to open the second period and give the Javelinas an 11-point lead, 34-23. Tarleton countered with an 8-0 run, but the Javelinas answered with a 7-0 run of their own to push the lead back to 10 points, 41-31 with 12:16 left to play.

 

A 14-6 run from the TexAnns made it a 47-45 game with 7:22 left to play, but Soza was fouled on a three-point attempt and sank all three free throws to give TAMUK another five-point lead, 50-45. The TexAnns later found themselves down  54-49 with less than five minutes still to play, and a 9-0 run that ended with a three-pointer from Sundberg put the TexAnns on top 58-54. Her basket would be the last field goal Tarleton would make and the TexAnns were outscored 9-4 over the final 1:17.

"This was a bitter pill to swallow for us after fighting back so hard," Hearne said. "I think we will see some things we will be able to correct and get better from this game."

 

Bowman led the TexAnns in scoring as she netted 11 points in 18 minutes off the bench. Brittnie Haley led all TexAnn starters with 10 points and both Morgan Stehling and Adamson added nine points each. Adamson recorded a game-high nine rebounds as well.

"Shedera played both ends of the floor tonight," Hearne said. "She is a very coachable young lady and we are going to see great things out of her."

 

Soza led all scorers with 11 points and three Javelina players scored in double digits as well.

 

After shooting just .280 percent from the field in the first-half, Tarleton shot .483 percent in the final period and finished the game shooting .389 percent. The Javelinas finished shooting .327 percent from the floor and converted .808 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe.

 

The TexAnns will return to Wisdom Gym on Wednesday, Feb. 3 to host Midwestern State. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Stephenville.