AN ANGELO – The Angelo State women's basketball team defeated Cameron 71-63 in its final regular season home game at Stephens Arena at the Junell Center.

The Belles improved to 17-6 on the season and 10-3 in the LSC. With the win, ASU remains in second place in the conference standings.  The Aggies (12-10, 6-7 LSC) were held to just 32.0-percent from the floor and only scored seven points in the third quarter. Angelo State received a big contribution from the charity stripe hitting 17-of-27 (63.0-percent) during the game.

"It was a tough hard fought win," Angelo State head women's basketball coach Kevin Baker said. "Cameron is a good team and really hard to guard. We knew it was going to be a tough game. I thought Diamalises (Rivera) and Brea (Mitchell) fought hard tonight in their final home game. I was happy the way this team grinded it out and found a way to win tonight."

ASU had four players score in double figures led by Brea Mitchell's 19 points. Jasmine Prophet almost had her third double-double of the season but was one rebound shy. The junior scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. KeAnna Kelly and Kiahna Thompson each added 12 points. Taylor Dorsey was a point and rebound shy of her fifth double-double. The Fort Worth native chipped in nine points and nine rebounds.

The Belles jumped out to an 11-6 advantage in the first six minutes of the game with an 11-2 run as Kelly scored five straight points. Cameron would respond with six straight points in a span of 1:04 to take a 12-11 lead. Thompson, ASU's leading three point shooter, found space and drained back-to-back 3-pointers to put ASU up 17-12. With 13 second to go, Cameron hit a 3-pointer but Mitchell responded with one at the buzzer to make it 22-17 at the end of the first.

Prophet opened the scoring for ASU in the second quarter with a bucket off the glass. A 7-2 Aggie run would tie the game at 26. Cameron would score four unanswered points to go up 30-26 before Thompson sank a 3-pointer to pull ASU to within one. Thompson gave the Belles the lead back with a jumper off the fast break and was fouled. The sophomore hit the free throw to make the score 32-30 with 4:41 to play in the second quarter. ASU would continue on its 10-0 run to build a 36-30 advantage with 2:26 left in the game. Cameron would score the final six points of the half to tie the game at 36 at the break.

Mitchell opened up the second half with a 3-pointer that would spark an 11-7 run by ASU. Up 47-43 with 5:17 to go, the Belles defense stepped up and held Cameron scoreless for the rest of the quarter. Mitchell hit another big three pointers and Dorsey hit a jumper in the paint to make it 52-43. The Belles were held scoreless over the final 2:14 but took a 52-43 lead into the fourth quarter.

Four straight points to open the fourth quarter and ASU had its largest lead of the game at 56-43. Cameron battled back with an 8-1 run to cut the lead to 57-51 with 5:24 left in the game. The Belles pushed it back to a 10 point margin as Kelly hit a three pointer at the top of the key for a 64-54 advantage. The Aggies wouldn't go away scoring seven of the next eight points to trim ASU's lead to 65-61 with only 55 seconds left to play. The Belles used the free throw line to their advantage hitting 4-of-4 to secure the 69-62 victory.

Dayla Threatt led Cameron with 17 points and 12 rebounds.

The Belles will play their final three regular season games of the season on the road. The first road test will be on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4 p.m. against Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas.