LAREDO, Texas – Rogers State women's basketball fell to Texas A&M International 45-39 at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building Monday night.
 
Both squads struggled to score in the opening half as the Dustdevils led the Hillcats, 21-13. RSU was led in the opening stanza by sophomore Lauren Schuldt with seven of the Cats 13 points.
 
The Dustdevils opened the third quarter with an 11-0 run to build a 19 point lead but the Hillcats responded with a 9-0 run of its own behind free throw shooting by Schuldt and 3-point shooting from Courtney Smith to bring the score to 32-22 with 1:18 to go in the period.
 
A Madison Dearmin layup started a 14-0 run for the Hillcats to end the third quarter and begin the fourth quarter to take a 36-34 lead with 3:43 remaining.
 
TAMIU built the lead to four points with 15 seconds remaining on the shoulders of Joanna Perez with seven of her 17 points coming in the final 1:45 of play as the Dustdevils held onto the 45-39 victory.
 
RSU shot 25.9 percent from the field but struggled behind the arc making just one 3-pointer for the evening in the loss. Schuldt finished with a season high 15 points for the Fayetteville, Ark. native to lead the Hillcats. Dearmin finished with nine points as Schuldt was the lone Hillcat to score in double-digit scoring.
 
TAMIU (1-10) was led by Perez with 17 points while Hannah Beede finished with 14 points and nine rebounds as she hit four 3-pointers. The Dustdevils went 7-for-21 from long distance and hit 75 percent from the charity stripe.
 
Rogers State (4-8) will break for the Holidays before returning to action on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 1 p.m. inside the Claremore Expo hosting Oklahoma Panhandle State.