Lady Texan rally falls just short versus New Mexico

February 11, 2014

LEVELLAND –Alexius Dawn scored a game high 13 points to lead four Lady Texans scoring in double figures, but the South Plains College Lady Texans could not overcome New Mexico Junior College Monday night as they fell 58-55 to the Lady T-Birds in the Texan Dome.

South Plains College (13-10, 7-3 WJCAC) was plagued with 15 first-half turnovers, yet still trailed by only six at halftime, 23-17.

Jasmine Brainard – the conference scoring leader at 18.5 points per game entering Monday's contest – was held scoreless in the first half, but went for 12 in the second and get hot down the stretch, scoring eight points in the final four minutes to help the Lady Texans erase an 11-point deficit.

Brainard's final points came with less than a minute to play when she took a deep pass from Dawn to the basket to bring the Lady Texans to within four. Brainard immediately fouled on the inbound pass, sending NMJC's Monique Mulder to the line, where she sank both to give New Mexico a 56-50 advantage.

Dawn nailed a 3 with 24 seconds left to again make it a one-possession game.

Dawn went to the free throw line 12 seconds later, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Rafeegah Fataar got the rebound and put it back, inching the Lady Texans to within a point with the clock winding down.

Ijeoma Nzekwe sent Mulder back to the line where, with nine seconds remaining, she forced the Lady Texans to make a 3 for a chance to send the game into overtime.

With New Mexico applying pressure, TaSheena Moore could not get a clean shot off and the Lady Texan rally fell just short in their first home game since defeating Midland Jan. 23.

Moore scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Fataar chipped in with 11 and five.

The Lady Texans will look to return to their winning ways when they travel to Clarendon Thursday, Feb. 13 for a 5:45 p.m. tipoff that will be streamed live on www.spctexans.com. Audio for the game will be available on the radio at 1230 AM KLVT as well as online atwww.klvtradio.com.

New Mexico (18-5, 9-1)
Monique Mulder 3-4 5-9 12, Viktoriia Kotilevskaia 1-5 0-0 3, Blair Richmond 2-3 0-0 6, Leila Jdily-Ezzad 1-1 0-0 3, Kelsey Criner 2-4 3-3 7, Kassandra Harris 5-12 2-6 12, Jolanna Ford 1-5 0-0 2, T'Keya Mason 0-4 2-4 2, Angelica de Paulo 1-2 0-0 2, Tanya Simpson 4-7 1-1 9. Totals 20-47 13-23 58

South Plains (13-10, 7-3)
Alexius Dawn 5-18 0-3 13, Desiree Cruz 0-0 0-0 0, Tasheena Moore 3-10 2-2 10, Briana Brigham 1-1 0-2 3, Ijeoma Nzekwe 1-2 4-7 6, Jasmine Brainard 4-11 3-4 12, Rafeegah Fataar 5-6 1-2 11. Totals 19-48 10-20 55

SCORE BY PERIODS	1st	2nd	TOTAL
New Mexico	23	35	58
South Plains	17	38	55

FG%: New Mexico .426, South Plains .396. 3-pt FG:New Mexico 5-12 (Mulder 1-1, Kotilevskaia 1-3, Richmond 2-3, Jdily-Ezzad 1-1, Criner 0-2, Mason 0-1, de Paulo 0-1), South Plains 7-20 (Dawn 3-10, Moore 2-7, Brigham 1-1, Brainard 1-2). Rebounds: New Mexico 26 (Simpson 9), South Plains 28 (Moore 8). Fouls New Mexico 16, South Plains 18. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: New Mexico 10 (Mulder 4), South Plains 14 (Dawn 4, Moore 4). Steals: New Mexico 9 (Mulder 2, Kotilevskaia 2, Criner 2), South Plains 11 (Dawn 3, Nzekwe 3). Blocked shots: New Mexico 2 (de Paulo 1, Simpson 1), South Plains 1 (Fataar 1). Turnovers: New Mexico 20, South Plains 20.