Zack Crow
Staff Writer
On Feb. 3, the Cameron Women’s Basketball Team held on to defeat the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas in a triple overtime contest, 92-91.
The Aggies were led in scoring by redshirt junior Parfitt McNair and sophomore Jamie Bonnarens, who both scored 20 points. The win for the Aggies puts them at 9-3 overall and 7-7 in the Lone Star Conference (LSC).
Aggie head coach Emma Andrews said she was satisfied by her team’s performance in a physical game like this.
“I was especially proud of the way we played in the overtime periods,” she said. “Throughout the game it was kind of up and down, but against those physical teams, that’s how it goes.”
The Aggies and Javelinas had equal footing in every statistic, except for in points off turnovers. The Aggies outscored the Javelinas 26 to 12 on that front, forcing Kingsville to give up the ball 24 times.
Although neither team shot above 40 percent from the field, the Aggies saw five players score in double figures, compared to just four from Kingsville.
Kingsville’s Angelica Wilson led the game in scoring with 31 points on 10 of 22 shooting, but eventually fouled out of the game.
Not far behind McNair and Bonnarens for the Aggies, junior Amaka Nwakamma scored 17 points. She made eight free throws and shot four of ten from the field.
Coach Andrews said McNair and Bonnarens both played their best at the right time.
“I think they stepped up really when we needed them to,” she said. “Overall, our shooting was really down for the night, but for us to win, those two have to have games like that together.”
Bonnarens went perfect from the free throw line, shooting and making a total of nine free throws. McNair also made nine out of twelve.
The majority of McNair’s points came from her five of nine shooting from the field.
A big key to the Aggies’ forced turnovers had been sophomore Ava Battese’s four steals. She also added 13 points on the offensive side of the ball.
The game started off back and forth with both teams being tied throughout most of the first quarter, and eventually finishing the period knotted up at 13 apiece.
Very little changed in the second quarter as both teams ended the first half tied up at 30.
Once the third quarter started, the game continued its back and forth, physical play with Kingsville leading by one at the end of the third.
The final quarter saw much of the same, as Kingsville lead 61-58 at the halfway point. The score remained stagnate until, with just 40 seconds left, Battese tied the game with a three-pointer.
At nine seconds left, the Javelinas rebounded a missed Aggie shot, called a time out, and eventually missed the game-winning shot at the end of regulation.
In a back and forth first overtime, Aggie junior Amaka Nwakamma missed the game winning three-pointer to force a second overtime.
With 1:30 left in double overtime, the Javelinas led 77-75.
Nwakamma went to the line to shoot two free throws after missing the game tying shot with ten seconds left. She made both of them, giving the possession back to Kingsville.
With six seconds on the clock, junior Lejha Smith forced a Javelina turnover, but the Aggies missed the game winning shot, causing the game to head into triple overtime.
After the third overtime tipped off, the Aggies took control of the game, offensively and defensively.
With under 20 seconds to go in the third overtime, the Javelinas cut the Aggie lead to just one point.
The Javelinas came up with the ball with under ten seconds to go, but Kingsville’s Victoria Salinas missed the game winning shot, allowing the Aggies to hang on and win the game, 92-91.
The Aggies’ next major conference game is against Western New Mexico on Feb. 15 in Silver City, New Mexico.
