Lady Texans rally, top Western Texas 56-55 Thursday

LEVELLAND — Celia Sumbane recorded 25 points and 11 boards Thursday as the South Plains College women's basketball team bested Western Texas College 56-55 at the Texan Dome.

With two games remaining in the regular season, the Lady Texans move to 17-8 on the season and 11-1 in the WJCAC and will be on the road Monday in Odessa to take on the Lady Wranglers at 5:45 p.m. The contest will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard locally on KLVT Radio AM1230.

"You have to really respect the effort that Western Texas came in here and played with," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "They played hard, played with passion, and for a team that's been through what they've been through this season, it says a lot about who they are and their coaches. A lot of teams would fold, and they didn't."

Leading 28-22 at the midway point, Western Texans extended its lead to 10, 38-28 at the 4:21 mark of the third quarter on a jumper from Brianna Sias. South Plains answered with a 13-4 and trimmed the deficit to just one, 42-41 on a 3 from Dabria Blackwell with 9:02 remaining.

South Plains would then tie the game at 45 all on a layup from Sumbane with 7:22 to play. With 3:44 to go in the contest, SPC would take a 54-52 lead as Vitoria Carvalho dropped in a jumper to give South Plains its first lead since the 2:29 mark of the first quarter.

"We were looking for something on offense and just couldn't find it," Baten said. "We would get it to a good spot, and couldn't finish. We had a couple of kids make some plays and make things manageable for us, and at the end of the day we were able to make one more play than they did."

Western Texas would respond, tying the game at 54 on a  layup from Rachel Okoye with 2:27 to go. Carvalho would once again hit home, dropping in a jumper from five feet to put South Plains back up, 56-54 with 1:36 left. SPC would then lockdown on the defensive end as Western Texas would be held without a field goal over the final 96 seconds.

Sumbane finished seven of 13 from the field and 11 of 12 from the free throw line over 37 minutes. Carvalho tallied eight points and 11 rebounds, while Matilda Soderlund chipped in eight points in 35 minutes.

"We have a tough game on Monday night at Odessa," Baten said. "They have a talented roster, they play hard, and we're going to have to play well if we want to give ourselves a chance to win that game on the road."