Spartans Take Down Javelinas 67-50 to Claim the Victory

KINGSVILLE, Texas. – The University of Tampa women's basketball team played their second game of the back to back series in Kingsville as they took on the host Texas A&M Kingsville Javelinas on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans used a big second quarter along with a strong defensive effort to take down the Javelinas 67-50 for their first win of the season.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

Final: Tampa 67, Texas A&M Kingsville 50

Records: Spartans (1-1, 0-0 SSC), Javelinas (1-1, 0-0 LSC)
Location: Gil E. Steinke PE Center | Kingsville, Texas.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

1st Quarter | The Spartans took the lead before the clock had begun as a technical foul was assessed to the home team. Elena de Alfredo gave UT a 2-0 lead with the two free throws. Faith Sanders scored the first basket of the game to make it 5-0 Tampa but the home team went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. With less than five minutes remaining in the opening period, Rachel Warden came off the bench and hit a three-pointer to snap the streak and make it 10-8. The fast-paced offense and active defense of the Javelinas made it hard on Tampa but they were able to pick up their energy with two minutes left in the period to stop the momentum from the home side. Karma Jeremie drew a charge with a minute and a half left and Morgan Lumb made her first impact play as she drove to the basket and drew the foul and made the free throws to make it 13-12 at the end of the quarter.

2nd Quarter | The Spartans took their energy to the next level in the second quarter. Lumb led the way as she provided a boost of energy off the bench, hitting a three-pointer that gave Tampa the lead that they would not give up the rest of the half as the team went up 15-13 on the Javelinas. On the next possession, Lumb drove to the basket and drew a foul that made it a three-point lead. The Javelinas tied the game with a three of their own but UT kept going back to the hot hand and Lumb hit another three that forced a timeout by the home side. With the momentum on their side, Tampa kept building on their play and Jenny Horvatinovic hit a three of her own to extend the lead and followed that up with a two-pointer that made it 22-16. Lumb then made a key play on the defensive end as she drew a charge with four minutes left in the half. With 1:25, the Javelinas snapped a scoreless streak of almost seven minutes but Tampa got the final basket of the half as Teresa Kucera scored a layup at the buzzer to give UT the 28-17 lead at the break. Overall, the defense for the visitors was all hands on deck as they held TAMU to four points in the quarter.

3rd Quarter | After the halftime break, the Javelinas were able to come out with more energy as expected of a team down on their home floor. They made it a single digit deficit two minutes into the period at 31-22. Lumb would come back into the game with a little under seven minutes to go in the quarter and immediately made an impact as she hit a three-pointer to snap the scoreless streak and put the lead back into double digits at 34-23. With Lumb back on the floor, Tampa was able to sustain the run by the Javelinas. Despite their best effort, TAMU was not able to get close to the Spartans as deAlfredo hit a three-pointer to give UT an 11-point lead with five minutes to go. For the rest of the quarter, the Tampa players were able to take advantage of the Javelinas being in foul trouble to go to the free throw line often and make their shots to stop any momentum by the home side. Lumb was able to quiet a crowd that was trying to get their team going as she hit a three with 20 seconds to go that made it 50-31 going into the final period.

4th Quarter | The home side came out flying as they were desperate to get back in the game. They scored the first two baskets of the period and held UT scoreless for nearly two minutes to open the quarter until deAlfredo made a three-pointer to extend the lead to 53-36 and the Spartan defense would pick it up after that boost. Tampa held TAMU scoreless for almost two minutes until a Javelinas three-pointer made it 57-39 with just over six minutes left in the game. The home side would not go away but Tampa was able to keep them at a distance as their defense and offense did the job and deAlfredo would seal the win with a final three-point shot to make the score 67-50.

INSIDE THE STATS:

• Tampa was able to make 12 three-point shots, led by four from Lumb, while holding the home team to only five.
• UT outscored TAMU 16-4 in the second period as they built their lead. The team shot 50% from the field while holding their opponent to 8.3% as the Javelinas made just one field goal.
• The Spartans largest lead was 21 while the Javelinas largest lead was only five.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Leading scorer Lumb came off the bench to play 30 minutes and record 17 points and 7 rebounds.

UP NEXT:

UT will host the Nova Southeastern University Sharks next Saturday for the home opener at 2 p.m. EST in their first conference game of the season. Live stats and a live video webcast will be provided through www.tampaspartans.com

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