Cera's School Record Pushes Lady Texans Past Frank Phillips

LEVELLAND— Records are meant to be broken. Or in this case, shattered.

Elizabeth Cera, a Freshman guard from Levelland, Texas, knocked down a school record 12 3-pointers en route to a 42-point performance, leading the South Plains College Lady Texans to an 85-56 conference win over Frank Phillips (10-10, 2-6) on Monday night at the Texan Dome.

"I think this came from all my work this season," Cera said. "I was talking to my sister today about it, and we were looking at the records, and I saw the record was nine, and I just thought I would try and get close to it. My coach, Brock, was working on it with me yesterday, and that work pays off."

Cera got to work early on, knocking down consecutive 3-pointers on the Lady Texan's first two possessions. Dabraisia Baty would cap of an early 8-0 run with a conversion at the rim to give South Plains an early momentum surge which would last over 40 minutes.

"Elizabeth Cera came out with another great shooting night, and shattered the school record with 12 3-pointers," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "I think the previous record was nine, and she really showed some toughness down the stretch being able to hit some shots late. Her teammates were really really unselfish, and they set a lot of screens for her and got her the ball."

Cera Finished the contest 14-of-23 from the field and 12-for-19 from long distance. Yanina Inkina went 6-for-8 from the field and finished the game with 13 points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Lady Texans, while Brittany Smith racked up eight points and 10 assists.

South Plains (16-9, 4-5) shot over 51 percent over the course of the game and 53 percent from the 3-point line, all while forcing their opponent to shoot just 32 percent from the floor and 28 percent from behind the arc.

Cera would finish the first half with 17 points, including a 3-pointer from the corner with 37 seconds remaining before the break to cap off a 15-0 run and send the Lady Texans into the locker room with a 38-17 lead.

"What she did tonight was a really special thing, and anytime we can do things like that and get a win, it's really fun to do for them," Petree said. "We play for the players, and I'm just really really proud of our team. Brittany Smith had 10 assists, another unselfish stat, and we really stressed sharing the ball."

The Lady Texans would continue their offensive attack in the final 20 minutes and would go on to lead by as much as 33 points at the 6:29 mark in the fourth quarter. Cera would knock down seven of her 12 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes of the contest, and finished the game just three points shy of Sheryl Swoope's school record of 45 points in a single game, which was set on November 30, 1989 against Clarendon.

"We're getting better," Petree said. "Early, we kind of struggled a little bit with our ball movement, and we were really really moving the basketball well tonight. I'm very proud of our team, and now we just have to go back and do it again on Thursday."

The Lady Texans will now matchup with Odessa College on Homecoming night at the Texan Dome, February 4, with tipoff set for 5:45p.m.