No. 3 Lady Texans rally to defeat Kilgore 49-48

KILGORE, TX — The third-ranked South Plains College women's basketball team rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to defeat Kilgore College 49-48 in the final seconds Thursday at the Masters Gymnasium.

The Lady Texans improve to 3-1 on the year and will open conference play on Monday, Feb. 1 against Midland College at 5:45 p.m. at the Texan Dome. Fans are welcome to attend (masks required), and attendance is free.

"We've got to play better, and I give credit to Kilgore and how hard their kids played tonight," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "They played well defensively and we have a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball. I thought defensively we played well for the most part, but we have to rebound the basketball. I thought we handled pressure better tonight, but overall we have to play much better."

Trailing 24-19 at the midway point, South Plains would come out and shoot a 42.9 percent clip from the field while holding the Lady Rangers to a 23.1 percent mark from the floor in the second half. Kilgore would take a 36-31 lead into the final stint, but South Plains outscored their counterpart 18-12 in the final 10 minutes, holding off the Lady Rangers in the final seconds.

In a game that saw seven lead changes, the Lady Texans made the most of their opportunities inside, outscoring Kilgore 30-12 in the paint and netted 16 points off 20 turnovers from the Lady Rangers.

"We were able to move the ball and find open spaces and put ourselves in a lot of three on twos," Baten said. "We didn't convert as many two on ones on the other end, but overall the execution of the press offense was better."

Debora Reis scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive game for the Lady Texans, recording her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 15 boards over 37 minutes. Sophomore Grace Hunter chipped in 11 points and dished out four assists while Jordan Brown poured in 10 points and snagged eight boards for the Lady Texans.

"The idea is to play inside out and we're getting some good looks, but we have to share the ball more, we have to get ball reversals and we're dribbling the ball too much and not moving it enough," Baten said. "Honestly those are typical for us early in the year, but its got to start getting better and its got to start getting better in a hurry."