LAREDO, Texas (Jan. 20, 2022) – The odds appeared stacked against Oklahoma Christian on Thursday night. The Lady Eagles hadn't played in 18 days, had had only limited practice time in recent weeks due to COVID-19 protocols and were on the road against a regionally ranked opponent.

OC fought through the adversity and posted its highest point total of the basketball season, but fell just short in losing 81-75 to Texas A&M International inside TAMIU's Kinesiology and Convocation Building.

Freshman forward Brooklin Bain posted a double-double for OC, recording career highs with 28 points and three steals while grabbing 12 rebounds. The difference proved to be free throws – TAMIU, ranked 10th in the South Central Region, hit 25 of 31 attempts from the line while OC was 12 of 17. OC was whistled for 22 fouls, eight more than the Dustdevils.

The Lady Eagles shot 7 of 34 (20.6 percent) from 3-point range, which didn't help their cause.

"I'm proud of the way the girls fought tonight," OC coach Stephanie Findley said. "We have only had three practices with everyone since our Covid outbreak, so I thought we did a good job hanging in there, but we gave too many fouls. We've lost several games this year with big free-throw discrepancies. We've got to play better defense without fouling. Cold 3-point shooting didn't help either. I know we are capable, but it's just not coming together for us at the 3-point line."

OC (0-11, 0-3 Lone Star Conference) missed its first nine 3-point attempts, but the Lady Eagles still led for most of the first half. Bain put them up 25-14 with a driving layup in the first minute of the second quarter and OC led 32-22 after a 3-pinter by Brooklyn Long with 3:34 left in the first half.

TAMIU (11-4, 2-2) had its own issues, as the Dustdevils used only seven players during the game, with one of those only playing the final 18 seconds. But still, the Dustdevils closed the first half on a 9-2 run, with their first 3-pointer coming at the buzzer from Clara Fernandez, who led them with 19 points.

That cut OC's lead to 33-31, and Audry Hornaday hit a 3-pointer 11 seconds into the second half to put TAMIU ahead. TAMIU extended its run to 21-3 and led 43-35 with 7:06 left in the third quarter.

OC battled back and twice tied the game, at 60-60 and 62-62, the latter time with 7:19 left on two free throws by Bain. The Dustdevils rebuilt their lead to 70-64 with 3-pointers by Evelyn Quiroz and Silvia Blanco, though, and the Lady Eagles never quite caught up again.

Bain converted a three-point play with 16 seconds left to pull OC within 78-75 and Quiroz split a pair of free throws moments later, with OC rebounding the miss. But the Lady Eagles' inbounds pass sailed out bounds untouched and Quiroz sealed the win for TAMIU with two free throws with 13 seconds left.

Quiroz narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Raiana Brown scored 18 for the Dustdevils while Sophia Haberer added 14.

Freshman guard Kate Bradley had 16 points, six assists, six rebounds and three steals for OC.

OC will visit another south Texas LSC member, Texas A&M-Kingsville, for a game on Saturday afternoon, then will visit Arkansas-Fort Smith on Tuesday for a makeup game, two days before UAFS travels to Oklahoma City to again face the Lady Eagles.