ALEXANDRIA, La. – The Louisiana Christian University women's basketball team didn't waiver in the face of an 11-point deficit with less than ten minutes left in its season potentially, instead rallying with a 24-5 fourth quarter run as the Wildcats completed the comeback and eliminated the Texas A&M-Texarkana Eagles, 62-54, in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Red River Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship Tournament Sunday afternoon at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.
 
The game started well enough for the Wildcats as Kieyoomia Benally, the conference's newcomer of the year, gave LCU the game's first points by hitting a three-pointer to open the scoring. After the Eagles hit their own three-pointer to tie the game up, Benally and Noa Fernandez Fuentes scored back-to-back lay-ups to put the Wildcats up 7-3 early.
 
But the three-pointer continued to fall for TAMUT, and when it didn't, the Eagles were able to work their way to the foul line to go on an 18-5 run to take a 21-12 lead with two minutes left in the first period. The Eagles led 22-14 at the end of the first quarter.
 
LCU scored the second quarter's first five points to get that deficit down to three at 22-19 as Kayla Kinney split a pair of free throws with 7:12 left before halftime. TAMUT scored the next four to get their lead back up to seven points. A floater by Kieyoomia Benally started an 8-1 Wildcat push to tie the game at 27-27 when Paola Abad Prieto hit a three-pointer with just less than three minutes left before the break. TAMUT would score the period's final three points, all from the free throw line, to take a 30-27 lead into the halftime locker room.
 
The Eagles opened the scoring in the third quarter to take a five-point lead before the Wildcats rattled off the next seven to reclaim the lead when Now Fernandez Fuentes found Kayla Kinney cutting to the basket for a lay-up and a 34-32 LCU advantage with just more than six minutes left in the period. Over the next few minutes, every time TAMUT tied the score, LCU responded with a bucket to retake the lead. But with four minutes left and LCU holding a 38-36 lead, the Wildcats went cold, and the Eagles went on a 10-0 run to close out the period and take a 46-38 lead into the final ten minutes of play.
 
Things got even more bleak for the Wildcats to start the fourth as the Eagles extended that run out to 13-0 and give TAMUT a 49-38 lead after each team's opening possession of the final period. But the Wildcats were not ready to see their season end just yet, scoring the next eight points to make it a one-possession game again as Benally drained a three that made the score 49-46 TAMUT.
 
The Eagles got the next three points to push their advantage back out to six with just more than five minutes left to play, but the Wildcats would not allow the Eagles to stay away. A pair of free throws by Miya McKinney started LCU off on the game-breaking 11-0 run, which McKinney capped with another free throw that gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game up to that point at 57-52 with 1:32 left in the contest. TAMUT got a lay-up to try and give itself hope in the final 90 seconds, but tough LCU defense down the stretch and free throws helped the Wildcats ice the win.
 
This was the Wildcats first postseason appearance since the 2018-19 season, and first postseason win since knocking off Texas-Tyler in the American Southwest Conference Tournament semifinals on February 24^th, 2017.
 
Miya McKinney's late surge continued as the All-RRAC Second Team member notched her fourth straight double-double with 19 points and ten rebounds. It was her tenth double-double on the season and ninth since RRAC play started back in January. Kieyoomia Benally teetered on a double-double as well, finishing the game with 17 points and nine boards.
 
LCU's defense was spot on, making up for some error-prone offense as the Wildcats turned the ball over 24 times to TAMUT's 12 turnovers, however LCU ended the game out-scoring the Eagles in points off turnovers at 15-14. The defense held TAMUT to an astonishingly low 20.5% shooting percentage in the game while the Wildcats hit on 36.1% of their shots.
 
The Wildcats (18-8) now advance to Monday's semifinal game in the 2022 RRAC Women's Basketball Championship Tournament to take on the #1 overall seed in the event, the Our Lady of the Lake Saints, who went through conference play undefeated. Tip-off of Monday's game against the Saints (18-10) is set for 3:00 P.M. at the Rapides Parish Coliseum in Alexadria.