No. 5 Lady Texans fall to Howard College 69-61 in overtime Monday

BIG SPRING — The fifth-ranked South Plains College women's basketball team fell to Howard College in overtime Monday 69-61 at Dorothy Garrett Coliseum.

The Lady Texans move to 9-3 on the season and 6-2 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference and return home Thursday to take on Western Texas College at 5:45 p.m. at the Texan Dome. Admission to the game is free and can be seen live at spctexans.com with Michael Wiiest of KLVT Radio Levelland calling the courtside action.

Trailing by three with under 30 seconds to play in the contest, South Plains' Grace Hunter found Serena Waters open in the right corner, as Waters would sink a 3 to deadlock the game at 58 all with 21 ticks to play. Howard's Claudia Hernandez Garcia would attempt a 3 as time expired, but it fell short to send the game into OT.

The Lady Hawks would go on an 11-3 run in the final five minutes to scratch out a win and move to 3-6 on the year. Freshman Debora Reis scored in double figures for the 12^th consecutive game, netting a season-high 21 points to go along with a game-high 17 rebounds over 29 minutes. Reis finished 9 of 13 from the floor and also blocked four shots.

Viktoria Ivanova provided eight points coming off the bench for South Plains while Waters and Jordan Brown each totaled seven points. Hunter and Dyana Offutt each chipped in four points as the Lady Texans shot 35.9 percent from the floor and 11 of 21 from the free throw line.

Tatym Barnes led Howard with 18 points on 5 of 11 shooting and was 5 of 9 from distance over 27 minutes. Sumaiyah Abdur-Rahim dropped in 16 points and secured five rebounds for the Lady Hawks while Kayla Massop had 16 points and seven boards. Howard shot 33.3 percent from the floor and was 11 of 25 from distance.