No. 7 Lady Texans silence Coastal Bend College 95-47 Thursday in season opener

LEVELLAND — The South Plains College women's basketball team wasted no time picking up where they left off a year ago as the seventh-ranked Lady Texans pounced Coastal Bend College 95-47 in the season opener Thursday night at the Texan Dome.

SPC will be back on the floor Friday when they host Connors State College at 7 p.m. at the Dome. Admission to the game is free and will also stream live at spctexans.com.

"I thought our kids played with good energy and played hard tonight," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "We shot the ball well for the most part and executed well enough. We took what they gave us, and they were in a three-two zone and were a little late in their corner coverages, which gave us open looks. Our kids showed patience and turned down some shots to get the ball in the post and get them involved."

Sophomore Ashala Moseberry led all scorers with 18 points in the contest, dropping in 7 of 11 shots and was 4 of 8 from distance over 23 minutes. Celia Sumbane netted 12 points to go along with eight boards in her debut for SPC, connecting on 4 of 6 attempts from the floor and was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

The Lady Texans received a double-double from Marytyna Czescik, who came off the bench and tallied 12 points and 12 boards over 21 minutes, bucketing 5 of 9 shots from the floor. Reija Todd hit on 4 of 9 attempts from the hardwood, totaling 10 points to go along with four boards and a pair of assists over 25 minutes.

"Every game is different, and I think you have to involve your big people offensively," Baten said. "They are asked to do so many different things defensively and on the glass, you have to keep them involved which helps soften things up for our perimeter players. We're always going to try and emphasize getting some post touches."

South Plains shot 43.2 percent from the floor and knocked down 13 3s in the contest. SPC was just as impressive on the defensive end, forcing the Lady Cougars to shoot just 21.7 percent for the game including a 5 of 27 clip from distance. The Lady Texans controlled the interior, outrebounding Coastal Bend 75-35 on the glass, netting 23 points on second-chance opportunities, and posted 33 points inside the paint.

"We had a few breakdowns defensively and have some things we have to clean up," Baten said. "But overall, our kids played hard and competed, and for our first game in November that's about what we can expect."