Lady T-Birds handle Western Texas, 85-44

Lady T-Birds handle Western Texas, 85-44

EDUARDO MIRANDA NEWS-SUN
February 12, 2019

NMJC's Sydnee Wynn goes for a shot against Western Texas Monday in the Lady T-Birds' 85-44 win at Caster Activity Center.

The New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team hosted conference opponent Western Texas College at Caster Arena Monday night.

The Lady T-Birds riding a two-game winning streak added another win after defeating the Lady Westerns by 41 points, 85-44.

"Our energy and defense was good," NMJC coach Drew Saunders said on his team's overall performance. "We transitioned the baskets were good. There were times when I was not happy with our half court. We didn't share the ball enough, our bigs didn't get enough touches."

The Lady T-Birds defense led to the 41 point win as they never allowed the Lady Westerns get into their half court offense. NMJC finished with 21 steals and forced Western into committing 25 turnovers.

From the first quarter NMJC defense harassed the Lady Westerns every time they brought the ball up court. When Western Texas was able to get into the offensive end, it struggled to free up any shooter on the Lady T-Birds rotation on the perimeter.

NMJC forced the Lady Westerns into taking bad shots or into a shot clock violation. The Lady T-birds held their opponent to only nine, second chance points in the game. The Lady T-Birds outrebounded the Lady Westerns 45-40, which led to 14, second chance points.

"90 percent of the time good defense is going to create easy offense," Saunders said. "We got to continue working on the half court."

The Lady T-Birds scored 44 points in the first half and held the Lady Westerns to 18 points. The first half energy from NMJC led to plenty of transition points and a 10-0 run to end the half coming off steals.

The Lady T-Birds used a strong opening third quarter to put the game out of the Lady Westerns reach.

As the lead began to balloon the Lady Westerns never gave up and continued to play hard until the final whistle.

NMJC held Western Texas to 25 percent from the field and 29 percent from the three-point line. NMJC shot 46 percent from the field but 13 percent from the three-point line.

Mayra Caicedo led the team on the defensive end with a game high seven steals. She added six points and five assists. Laci Hawthorne came off the bench to score a game high 20 points. She also chipped in with six rebounds and four steals. Jurnee President led the starters with 12 points, four assists, and four boards. Sydnee Wynn coming off an injury layoff had nine points and eight rebounds.

The Lady T-Birds will host the number one ranked South Plains College on Thursday night at 5:45 p.m. The Lady T-Birds will be looking to extend their winning streak and get a chance at avenging their loss in Texas earlier in the season.