Rough Night

Article Written by: Jason Farmer NEWS-SUN

Photo Taken by: Tony Baker NMTXsports.com

One year ago, the New Mexico Junior College women;s basketball team ran the table in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play. Wednesday, the Lady Thunderbirds opened WJCAC play. Despite a furious rally late in the fourth quarter, the Lady Thunderbirds came up short, losing 77-68 to Odessa College.

"They are a great team. They beat us in every phase" NMJC coach Drew Sanders said. "They out rebounded us, they out-toughed us, they out-shout us, they outworked us. The scoreboard is not a ture indicator of how bad the whooped us in the second half."

While the Lady Thunderbirds won't go undefeated in WJCAC play this year, that wasn't on Sanders' mind after the loss.

"You have to play them on game at a time," Sanders said. "We just have to get ready for Western and hopefully get better as the year rolls along."

NMJC opened the game with a 7-0 run, but Odessa called a timeout and when the Lady Wranglers returned to the court, they countered with a 13-2 run to take the lead. The Lady Thunderbirds got back within one on Daiane Machado's trey with one-second left in the first quarter, but went into the second quarter trailing 15-14.

In the second, the teams matched each other point for point during the 10 minute period, but it wasn't easy as Odessa pushed its lead to 28-21 with just over five minutes left in the half.

Ekaterina Zhibareva kick started the Lady Thunderdirds offense with 4:34 left in the half when she hit a layup. two minutes later, she sank another, cutting NMJC's defecit to three points, 28-25. Ni'Asia McIntosh got NMJC within one at the two-minute mark before Machado gave the Lady Thunderbirds a 29-28 lead with 1:41 in the half.

That was NMJC's last lead of the night though as Odessa scored 30 seconds later to give Odessa a 30-29 lead at the break.

In the second half, Odessa opened with a 14-2 run to take control of the game. By the end of the third quarter, the Lady Thundervirds trailed by 16 point, 53-37. The Lady Wranglers pushed their lead over NMJC to a game-high 19 points with 6:45 to play and again with 5:28 left on the clock.

"We made the score a little more respectable just by the press at the end," Sanders said, "but as far as the way they played us, the whooped us all over the place."

Following that, the Lady Thunderbirds' offensive picked up in the fourth quarter, outscoring Odessa College 31-24. NMJC closed the gap to six points, 72-66, with 39 seconds to play thanks to a 23-10 run. However, it wasn't enough to overcome the large deficit NMJC had allowed Odessa to build up.

"We started pressing and they turned the ball over a little bit," Sander said. "We started driving the ball up the basket and go tto the foul line some. That was the one thing that changed the game a little bit."

NMJC had four players score in double figures. McIntosh came off the bench to lead the Lady Thunderbirds with 17 points.  Zhibareva and Laurynn McGown each had 12 points while Machado finished with 10.

With the loss, NMJC falls to 9-3 on the seaon and 0-1 in WJCACA play. Next up for the Lady Thunderbirds in Western Texas College on Saturday.