The South Plains College women’s basketball team will played for a fourth consecutive Region V Tournament Championship last Saturday following a 69-67 double OT thriller over McLennan last Friday in the semifinal at the Tiger Pit.
South Plains was set to square off with conference foe New Mexico Junior College with the winner earning an automatic berth to the NJCAA Women’s Basketball National Tournament.
Deadlocked at 64 apiece with 1:23 to play in the second overtime period, McLennan’s Saneea Bevley buried a 3 from the top of the key to give the Highlassies a 67-64 cushion. South Plains’ sophomore Matilda Soderlund would answer back and knock down arguably the biggest shot of her collegiate career, as the five-foot-six guard from Sweden drained a triple from the top of the key to tie the game at 67 all with under a minute to play.
South Plains would then turn defense into offense on the following possession as Daiysha Brown crossed up Bevley on the defensive end, stealing the ball and taking it the length of the floor as Brown converted at the rim to put the Lady Texans up 6967 with 19 seconds to play.
McLennan would get the final possession and chose to go for the win as Miannah Little put up a 3 with two defenders in her face from the left corner. The shot never had a chance, as it fell a foot short of the basket as the final seconds trickled away to send SPC back to the region title game.
Celia Sumbane led South Plains with 20 points and nine boards over 27 minutes, pouring in five of 10 shots from the field and was 10 of 11 from the free throw line. Vitoria Carvalho finished with 16 points and eight boards coming off the bench for South Plains, while Brown netted 16 points and handed out a teamhigh six assists. South Plains forced 12 turnovers on the defensive end, resulting in 12 points on the other end of the floor, and outscored McLennan 38-16 inside the paint. SPC tallied 14 points on secondchance opportunities and received 18 points from their bench in the contest.
The South Plains College women’s basketball team fell to New Mexico Junior College 56-37 Saturday afternoon in the Region V title game at the Tiger Pit.
The Lady Texans move to 20-10 on the season as they await their fate in hopes of securing one of eight at-large bids to the NJCAA Women’s Basketball National Tournament. The official NJCAA Selection Show will air live on the NJCAA Network beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 12.
Jennifer Silva led SPC on the offensive end with 12 points and seven boards over 20 minutes, while Daiysha Brown totaled 11 points and seven rebounds in 37 minutes. Matilda Soderlund netted five points and three assists as South Plains shot a 26.4 percent clip from the field.
New Mexico’s Danna Grenald netted a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds, connecting on 10of 21 shots over 37 minutes. Bianca Juzzo recorded nine points and six rebounds as the Lady Thunderbirds shot just over 42 percent in the contest.