Cold spells doom Lady Texans in WJCAC showdown with Midland

February 8, 2013

MIDLAND – Thursday night was a showdown amongst leaders of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) women's standings, with the team earning the victory putting them in the drivers seat to earn the league championship and a No. 1 seed in next month's Region 5 tournament.

Having been idle during the last round of games Monday, Feb. 4, the Lady Texans entered Thursday's matchup only one-half game behind the Midland College Lady Chaps.

Ultimately, South Plains College fell on the short end of a 60-51 score in a game that was much closer than the outcome may indicate.

The Lady Texans (19-4, 6-2 in the WJCAC) jumped on top of Midland early in the game as they led 22-11 just beyond the midway point.

After making nine of their first 18 shots to build that lead, however, South Plains College hit a cold spell missing 12 straight shots until Jasmine Brainard finally converted with just over a minute remaining in the half.

Outside of two free throws by Stephanie Moore, the Lady Texans went more than seven minutes without scoring a point. Even with a scoring drought, the Lady Texans took a seven-point lead to the locker room after a reverse layup by Lindsey Lee put South Plains ahead 28-21 with 25 seconds to go in the half.

Midland's Achiri Ade opened the half by cutting into SPC's lead with a second chance bucket after rebounding her own missed shot and then following it up with a jumper on the baseline. Shea Myatt answered with a 3 from the top of the key and then Tasheena Moore grabbed another miss by Ade and quickly pushed the ball the length of the court, laying it in to push the Lady Texan lead back to 10.

Midland kept hanging around, getting to within four on three occasions leading up to the midway point of the second half.

With 9:06 to go in the ballgame, Brainard would push the SPC lead back to six, 42-36.

Unfortunately for the Lady Texans, they then hit another cold spell, missing 10 straight field goal attempts – not including a pair of missed free throws - during a 15-0 run by Midland.

Alexius Dawn finally stopped the bleeding after almost a six-minute scoring drought, but by then, South Plains trailed 51-44 with only 3:25 left on the clock.

A 3 by Myatt got the Lady Texans back to within six inside of three minutes to play, but a comeback was not in the cards tonight as Midland would stretch their lead to as many as 12 points.

Tasheena Moore made a 3 as the clock was ticking down the final seconds to bring the deficit back to single digits as South Plains fell to the Lady Chaps 60-51 Thursday night at the Al G. Langford Chaparral Center.

Playing the entire game, Dawn had an all-around night with nine points, eight steals, and six rebounds for the Lady Texans. Tasheena Moore had a team high 11 points.

The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for the Lady Texans, who had also won 12-of-13 entering Thursday's contest. All is not lost, however, as South Plains owns a split with Midland as they defeated them during the first half of the league schedule.

South Plains is now tied for third with New Mexico as both teams are one-half game behind Odessa for the second spot.

The Lady Texans will have to quickly put this game behind them as they are next scheduled to travel to Howard College Saturday, Feb. 9 for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Lady Hawks. Howard defeated Clarendon 66-50 Thursday night and narrowly lost to Midland 63-62 in the final seconds of their previous game Monday, Feb. 4.

Live video of Saturday's contest in Big Spring will be available at www.spctexans.com. Fans can also tune their radio dial to KLVT 1230 AM. KLVT Radio's Michael Wiiest will call the action on each of the feeds.

The Lady Texans' next home game is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 11, when they host New Mexico during Covenant Hospital's Think Pink Night.

South Plains (19-4, 6-2)
Alexius Dawn 4-11 1-2 9, TaSheena Moore 5-13 0-1 11, Jasmine Brainard 3-6 0-0 6, Kayla Turner 0-4 0-0 0, Shea Myatt 2-7 0-0 6, Lindsey Lee 3-11 0-0 6, Sydney Hearn 2-5 1-4 5,Stephanie Moore 1-6 6-6 8. Totals 20-63 8-13 51

Midland (12-5, 8-1)
Gabriela Martins 1-1 0-0 2, Meghan Braeuer 4-8 2-2 12, Darnetta Jackson 1-7 0-0 2, Daneichka Canales 3-10 1-4 7, Chanelle Dicroce 1-1 0-0 2, Tia Dixon 2-5 2-4 8, Catherine Kruschke 1-4 1-2 3, Sabrina Ochoa 1-3 0-0 3, Achiri Ade 6-18 7-10 19, Femke Vaandrager 0-0 0-0 0, Diamalises Rivera 1-6 0-0 2. Totals 21-63 13-22 60
SCORE BY PERIODS   1st   2nd   TOTAL
South Plains                    28   23   51
Midland                            21   39   60

FG%: South Plains .317, Midland .333. 3-pt FG:South Plains 3-14 (Dawn 0-2, Moore 1-2, Turner 0-2, Myatt 2-5, Lee 0-3), Midland 5-11 (Braeuer 2-2, Jackson 0-2, Canales 0-2, Dixon 2-4, Ochoa 1-1). Rebounds: South Plains 34 (Brainard 8), Midland 56 (Ade 17). Fouls South Plains 19, Midland 12. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: South Plains 8 (Dawn 4), Midland 7 (Dixon 4). Steals: South Plains 16 (Dawn 8), Midland 10 (Braeuer 2, Kruschke 2, Ade 2). Blocked shots: South Plains 1 (Brainard 1), Midland 10 (Kruschke 3, Ade 3). Turnovers: South Plains 17, Midland 22.