WJCAC Basketball Spotlight: South Plains travels to Clarendon Monday night

LEVELLAND — The South Plains College men's and women's basketball teams return to the hardwood on Monday night in a conference road matchup with Clarendon College at the Bulldog Gymnasium.

The Lady Texans will tip at 5:45 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30. Both games will be streaming live at spctexans.com and Michael Wiiest of KLVT Radio Levelland will call the courtside action.

The Texans enter the contest with a threshold on second place in the WJCAC conference standings, sitting at 19-7 on the year and 11-3 in conference play. The Bulldogs are vowing for a spot in the regional tournament as they currently sit in fourth in the conference standings with an overall record of 18-10 including an 8-6 mark in the WJCAC.

In their previous meeting on Jan. 25 in Levelland, South Plains pounded Clarendon 81-55 behind Isaiah Maurice' 14 point, 13 rebound performance. South Plains shot 48 percent from the field including a 42 percent clip from behind the arc as Ben Perez led all scorers with 17 points, knocking down 6 of 7 attempts from the floor and was 3 of 4 from the perimeter. Jamir Coleman tallied 10 points and five boards over 13 minutes while Keith McGee chipped in six points and dished out three assists.

South Plains has won five of its last six and will be taking on a Bulldogs team who has lost five of its last nine. That said, Clarendon is 11-1 at home this season, led by sophomore guard Reece Brooks who leads the team in scoring with 17.4 points per game. Clarendon's Ellis Jefferson is averaging 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while freshman guard David Carter is third on the team with 10.2 points per game.

The Lady Texans enter the contest with a 15-13 record on the year including a 2-10 mark in the WJCAC. South Plains fell to the Lady Bulldogs 65-52 in their previous meeting on Jan. 15 in Levelland as Clarendon's Ja'Vonda Daniels led all scorers with 18 points, 13 of which came at the charity stripe.

South Plains' Chantel Govan scored a team-high 15 points to go along with five boards and two assists. Haleigh Hill and Mikayla Kuehne each chipped in seven points while Maddie Dorris, Ravae Payne, and Gabbie Green each had three.

The Lady Texans are averaging 63.6 points per game, as Kuehne and Green are each averaging over 11 points per game. Sitting at 20-8 on the year and 4-8 in the WJCAC, the Lady Bulldogs average 78.1 points per game. Daniels is averaging 18.6 points and 4.5 boards per game, while Mia Castaneda ranks second in scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with 16.1 points per game.  

Following Monday night, South Plains will return home for their regular-season finale on Thursday, March 1, for sophomore night at the Texan Dome. South Plains will host Odessa College, with the Lady Texans tip set for 5:45 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30.

Mike Mamantov of Ameriprise Financial will be sponsoring Thursday's games, as he will be feeding all SPC Employees and giving away a $250 cash prize at the halftime of each game. (SPC Employees only, must be present to win)