Iwobi’s third straight double-double not enough for cold-shooting TexAnns

By BRAD KEITH

TheFlashToday.com

(January 16, 2015) — Tarleton State shot only 33.3 percent from the floor and slipped from a second-place tie to a fourth-place tie in the Lone Star Conference women’s race with a 75-65 road loss at Cameron Saturday.

Jazzmine Robinson poured in 21 points to lead Cameron to the victory. The Lady Aggies (7-7, 4-1) are just .500 overall, but their third straight win has them tied alongside Midwestern State – who’s only LSC loss is to Tarleton – for first the league.

Ikpeaku Iwobi did all she could to save Tarleton with 14 points and 16 rebounds, the sophomore forward’s third straight double-double and the seventh of her career, but her performance and 16 points and three assists from senior guard Kathy Thomas wasn’t enough to continue a three-game win streak that included last Wednesday’s 61-56 upset of No. 20 Midwestern.

Ikpeaku Iwobi goes up for two of her 14 points at Aggie Gym in Lawton, Okla. Saturday. The sophomore forward also had 16 rebounds for her third straight double-double. || Photo courtesy NATHAN BURAL/Tarleton

Cameron outscored Tarleton 30-18 in the paint and led by as many as 14 in the final minute despite the TexAnns dominating the backboards with 44 rebounds to 32.

Jade Herl scored 12, DJ Vallier 11 and Charron Montgomery 10 for the Lady Aggies, who shot 45.3 percent form the floor including 45 percent from the foul stripe.

The free throw stripe was the only spot on the court where Tarleton was hot, knocking down 13 of 14 for 92.9 percent.

The game was knotted up at 37 after a half, and Tarleton led 54-48 following a 3-pointer by Thomas with 12:51 left, but Cameron outscored the TexAnns 27-11 the rest of the way.

Cameron took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Cristina Soriano, making it 58-56 with 10:56 left, highlighting a surge of 15 straight points that left the Lady Aggies leading 68-56 with six minutes remaining. Jazzmine Robinson had nine points during the run, including an old-fashioned 3-point play to end it.

Travanti Downes finally slowed Tarleton’s bleeding with a jumper to make it a 10-point deficit with 5:33 remaining, but Herle hit a 3-pointer on the other end for Cameron and the Lady Aggies led by double figures the rest of the way.

Tarleton returns to Wisdom Gym to face West Texas A&M at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. WTAMU is third in the LSC, a half game behind Midwestern and Cameron, after reaching the national final last season.