Lady Texans top No. 8 New Mexico Junior College 62-52 Monday

LEVELLAND — Sophomore Ashala Moseberry recorded a game-high 16 points as the South Plains College women's basketball team topped No. 8 New Mexico Junior College 62-52 Monday night at the Texan Dome.

South Plains improves to 9-5 on the season and 3-0 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference and will be on the road Thursday at 5:45 p.m. against Clarendon College at the Bulldog Gymnasium.

"I'm really happy for our kids," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "We have been through some adversity here with cancelations, and our kids came out and competed well. The basketball wasn't always great, but it's probably the best we have competed all year."

South Plains jumped out to a 26-14 lead at the midway point but was answered early in the second half as the Lady Thunderbirds ripped off a 12-2 run to begin the third quarter and trim their deficit to 28-26. South Plains responded with an 8-2 run and went up 36-28 with 1:54 left in the third on a layup Vitoria Carvalho.

The Lady Texans would continue to find success on the offensive end down the stretch as Viktoria Ivanova pushed the lead to 11, 41-30 with a free throw at the 9:02 mark of the fourth quarter. SPC would then go up 13 with 6:42 remaining as Ivanova converted at the basket to give the Lady Texans a 45-32 advantage.

"I thought we battled, I thought we competed, and for the most part we defended well and did a lot more good than bad," Baten said. "They are really good and have really talented big kids and wanted to limit those player's touches. We tried to protect the paint and overall I'm just really happy for our kids, it's been a tough couple of weeks."

New Mexico Junior College would trim the deficit to just five, 56-51 on a layup from Delma Zita with 1:02 to play, but a pair of free throws from Moseberry would ice the game with 24 seconds to go.

"I thought Matilda was a trooper at the point with Raija being sick tonight and not being able to play a whole lot," Baten said. "I thought we had a lot of good individual performances all around, and this was a good team effort tonight."

Moseberry finished 4 of 8 from the field, 6 of 7 from the free throw line, and also grabbed seven boards and handed out three assists over 35 minutes. Cervalho finished with 10 points and 10 boards coming off the bench, while Celia Sumbane netted 10 points and snagged six rebounds. South Plains shot 42 percent from the floor, knocked down 18 of 27 attempts from the free throw line, and tallied 30 points inside the paint.