Smith's game winner pushes #2 Lady Texans past College of Southern Idaho 71-70 Saturday

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Ka'Lia Smith took an inbound pass from Caroline Germond with a second left and dropped in a layup off the glass to push the second-ranked South Plains College women's basketball team past College of Southern Idaho 71-70 Saturday at the CSI Gymnasium.

The Lady Texans improve to 10- 0 with the win and will be back on the hardwood on Dec. 4 against Howard College at 5:45 p.m. Due to an electrical issue with the Howard College gymnasium, Wednesday's game, which was slated to be played in Big Spring will now move to the Texan Dome in Levelland.

"CSI is a great team, and we came out and were aggressive and jumped out on them early and had the start that we needed," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "They made some great adjustments at the half and took away what we were trying to do. We were playing as hard as we could and they were just coming as us the second half. We showed a lot of poise and executed the out of bounds play and Ka'Lia did a great job and made the shot for us."

Sophomore Sarah Shematsi led the Lady Texans with a season-high 26 points and nine rebounds, knocking down 10 of 19 shots from the field and was 6-for-11 from the 3-point line over 37 minutes. Smith finished with 16 points including the game-winner, bucketing 8 of 14 attempts from the field and also snagged six rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

TCU signee Germond tallied 10 points and a career-high 12 assists to go along with five rebounds and three steals for the Lady Texans. Germond finished 5 of 11 from the field as the Lady Texans shot 47.5 percent from the floor and 31.8 percent from behind the arc. South Plains scored 44 points inside the paint and 14 points off 16 turnovers from the Golden Eagles.

"I'm really proud of our team, and in all of the time that I've been coaching basketball, I've never been treated as well as CSI has treated us since we have been up here," Petree said. "They are a high-class program and this was a tremendous environment to play in, and we have nothing but respect for their entire athletic department."

Karmelah Deah led CSI with 16 points, five assists, and four rebounds, connecting on 7 of 15 shots from the field in 33 minutes of action. Petra Farkas netted 14 points seven rebounds and three assists for the Golden Eagles, while Finley Garnett and Allie Thayne each chipped in 10 points. CSI shot 47.6 percent from the floor and 28.6 from the 3-point line and received 14 points from their bench.