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Lady Thunderbirds soar to victory
Posted: Jan 14, 2019

Lady Thunderbirds soar to victory

 

JASON FARMER NEWS-SUN
January 11, 2019

 

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NMJC's Thamires Andrade takes the ball down court during a home game back in Novemeber. Andrade had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the Lady T-Birds' win Thursday night.

 

 

 

The New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team won with ease Thursday as the Lady Thunderbirds beat host Western Texas College 64-41 in Snyder, Texas.

 

The Lady Thunderbirds has now won six straight and improves to 14-2 on the season and 2-0 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) play. Western Texas falls to 5-9 on the season with the loss and slips to 1-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play.

 

New Mexico Junior College, ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA, will now prepare for a tough matchup against No. 5 ranked South Plains College (18-1, 3-0) on Monday in Levelland.

 

The Lady T-Birds jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter as NMJC scored three points for every one Western Texas College scored. At the end of the first quarter, NMJC lead 15-5. The Lady T-Birds were able to expand on their lead in the second quarter as NMJC had its best offensive quarter of the game pouring in 18 points. However, the Lady T-Birds' defense slipped as bit as the Lady Westerners were able to find ways to score, finishing with 11 points in the quarter.

 

New Mexico Junior College went into the break leading 33-16.

 

"We started off with a high-energy first quarter as they had a lot of turnovers and missed a lot of easy shots," NMJC coach Drew Sanders said. "We were able to get some fast break points."

 

Trailing NMJC by 17, the Lady Westerners could have quit, but they didn't. Western Texas outscored NMJC in the third quarter as Western Texas scored more points in the third quarter (18), than it did in the entire first half (17). However, it didn't do much to the scoreboard as NMJC had 17.

 

"They came out and hit us real hard in the third quarter," Sanders said. "They hit several three-pointers and made a run at us. But, we responded really, really well in the fourth quarter."

 

As the fourth quarter got underway, the Lady T-Birds led 50-38. The final 10 minutes of play were a lot like the first 10, NMJC scoring with its offense and its defense shutting down Western Texas. The Lady T-Birds scored 14 points in the fourth, their lowest 10 minute point total of the game, but at the same time, the defense held Western Texas to just seven points.

 

Two players had double-doubles for NMJC, Sydnee Wynn and Thamires Andrade. Wynn led all scorers with 16 points while also grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Andrade finished with 10 points and 11 boards.

 

Laci Hawthorne also had double figure rebounds for NMJC as she grabbed 10.

 

Jurnee President and Eternati Willock each had eight points, as did Delphynia Sparks, who came in off the bench. Hawthorne chipped in six points. Hobbs graduate Amaya Lewis contributed four points, three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Mayra Caicedo and Bryana Langford also scored for the Lady T-Birds.