CORPUS CHRISTI – Laila Lawrence scored career-best 29 points on Thursday night at the American Bank Center, but it was not enough for the Texas A&M University-Commerce women's basketball team against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders, who took the 83-58 win.
 
The Lions drop to 10-6 in Southland Conference play, having just two more games to play, with one more coming against the Islanders, who move into a tie for first place with a record of 12-4. A&M-Commerce sits in fourth place and is two games back of the top two teams in the conference.
 
After a 2-2 tie, the Islanders went on a 16-2 run over six minutes to jump out to a big lead in the first quarter. A&M-Corpus Christi led 22-7 after the first quarter. All seven points from the Lions came from Lawrence (Lewisville), who shot 3 for six from the field, while the rest of the team shot 0 for 11. The Islanders shot 53 percent in the first.
 
The Islanders were held to just two points through the first seven minutes and three seconds in the second quarter and the Lions outscored them 9-2 during that stretch to cut the deficit down to single digits. A&M-Corpus Christi ended the half on a 9-0 run to go back up by 17 at halftime.
 
The Lions outscored the Islanders by one in the third but were outscored, 25-16, in the fourth.
 
Lawrence had 24 of the team's 42 points through the first three quarters, matching her career high. She finished the game with 29 points on 10 for 17 shooting but collected her fourth foul of the game with five minutes left and did not play the rest of the quarter.  
 
DesiRay Kernal (Newton, Kan.) and Jordyn Beaty (Woodville) battled foul trouble as well. Kernal recorded seven points, while Beaty had two rebounds. Mia Deck (Frisco – Lone Star) scored eight and Nya Harmon (Dallas – Bowie) added seven off the bench, which is her season best. Dorian Norris (Lake Dallas) led the team with six rebounds and three assists. The Lions shot 18 for 23 at the line.
 
Makinna Serrata scored 25 for the Islanders, while Alecia Westbrook recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. A&M-Corpus Christi shot 50 percent from the field, 47.4 percent from the distance, and 12 for 14 at the line.

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The Lions head to San Antonio to face UIW on Saturday to close out the road trip at 2 p.m. It is also the final road game of the regular season.