Lady Texans Set For Bill Culver Classic

High expectations and winning standards are not akin to South Plains College.

For former Red Raider and first-year Lady Texans' head coach Cayla Petree, those expectations remain unscathed.

A two-time first team all-conference selection at Cisco Junior College, Petree has amassed nine wins in just 13 games in 2015, already tying the win total of the Lady Texans' basketball team from a season ago.

Sitting at 9-4 on the year and 1-1 in conference play, the Lady Texans will travel to Scottsdale, Arizona for a four-game stint on December 28 to compete in the Bill Culver Memorial Classic.

"The good thing about traveling to Arizona is that we've started our conference play with two good challenges in Frank Phillips and Midland," Petree said. "What's going to be tough is coming back from a three week break, and Arizona will be a good chance for us to knock a little rust off and kind of get back in the groove before we start up conference play.

"We're going to play some really good teams out there, and the four teams we're set to play are pretty solid every year. They all play good basketball, so we'll be happy to just play again and get ready for WJAC play."

South Plains will take on Chandler-Gilbert Community College and Mesa Community College on December 28 and 29, followed by matchups with Scottsdale Community College and Phoenix College on December 30 and 31.

Averaging just over 72 points-per-game while holding their opponents to shooting just 36 percent from the field, the Lady Texans have been battle tested to date, and will take that mindset on the road come tournament time.

Although still a young team on the stat sheet with 12 freshmen, coach Petree knows what it will take to continue to adapt and develop in one of the deepest conferences in the country.

"We have to be able to put a full 40 minutes together if we want to be able to compete in this conference, because every team we play is very talented and very deep," Petree said. "Obviously we want to go out there and win every game, but we want to try and position ourselves to try and get into the regional tournament.

"If what we say is true and what we preach about going out and getting better everyday and this being a process is right, then hopefully we'll be able to make a little noise in that regional tournament and you never know what can happen."

You can watch the Lady Texans live in Arizona by going to spctexans.com, or get live updates by following the Lady Texans on Twitter, @spctexans.