NMJC women battle for win over Western Texas

Article Written by: Jason Farmer NEWS-SUN

Photo Taken by: Tony Baker NMTXsports.com

Coming into play Monday night, on paper, the New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team was supposed to win with ease. The end result was a win for the Lady Thunderbirds, but it wasn't with ease. NMJC beat the Westerners 64-56 in Snyder. NMJC opened the game with a 6-0 lead, but Western Texas battled back, tying the game three different times in the opening quarter. The Lady thunderbirds trailed once, 12-11 with 1:18 left in the first quarter, but tied game with 29 seconds left.

The Lady Thunderbirds wouldn't trail again. The New Mexico Junior College built up a 10-point lead in the second quarter, leading 22-12 just under half way through the second quarter, but like the first quarter, the Lady T-Birds couldn't hold the lead. With 39 seconds left in the second, Western Texas had cut NMJC's lead to 24-23, but Daiane Machado sank a bucket with seven seconds left to put NMJC up 26-23 at the break. The Lady T-Birds offense really picked up in the third quarter. NMJC doubled up Western Texas 24-12 in the third quater to take a 50-35 lead into the fourth quarter. Just as quickly as NMJC built up its lead in the third, Western Texas battled back in the fourth. The Lady Westerners outscored the Lady T-Birds 21-14 ovet the final 10 minutes. Machado led the Lady Thunderbirds with 19 points and nine rebounds. Alarie Mayze and Laurynn McGowen each had 12 points for the NMJC women. With the win, NMJC improves to 19-4 overall and 8-1 in WJCAC play. Western Texas falls to 9-10 and 2-6. The Lady Thunderbirds will be off until Monday when they travel to South Plains to play the Lady Texans.