Lady T-Birds dominate home finale
JASON FARMER NEWS-SUN
February 22, 2019
Sydnee Wynn tosses up a shot for the NMJC women's basketball team Thursday night in Caster Activity Center. Wynn had a season-high 23 points in the Lady T-Birds' 105-47 win over Frank Phillips College.
The New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team celebrated sophomore night in a big way Thursday as the Lady Thunderbirds slaughtered the Lady Plainsmen of Frank Phillips College, winning 105-47 in Caster Activity Center.
"The team that we played, you could tell that they are at the end and that they didn't have a lot to play for because there are out of the conference race," NMJC coach Drew Sanders said. "Their effort and things from them wasn't that outstanding, but I was proud of our kids. I felt like once we got the defensive intensity going in the first half, that we created an up-tempo game."
While both teams play in the same conference, the level of talent on the two teams couldn't have been more of a mismatch. NMJC dominated Frank Phillips in all four quarters of play. The Lady T-Birds had at least 24 points in all four quarters. NMJC's best quarter was the second when it scored 30.
The Lady T-Birds were up 24-11 after the first quarter and pushed their lead to 54-21 at the break. By the end of the third quarter, NMJC was out in front by 79-31. Frank Phillips had its best scoring quarter in the fourth, scoring 16 points, but NMJC added another 26 to its total to reach 100 points for the second time this season.
"I was really proud of them," Sanders said. "It felt like kept a pretty good focus throughout the second half even with the big lead."
Sydnee Wynn led the offensive charge for NMJC in the first half, scoring 19 of her game-high, and season-high, 23 points. Laci Hawthorne also had 23 points for NMJC, scoring 11 in the first half and 12 in the second half. She finished one shy of her season-high.
Wynn and Hawthorne weren't the only Lady T-Birds pouring in the points though as NMJC had five players finish with double figure scoring. Hobbs graduate Amaya Lewis each finished with 14 points, one shy of her season-high while Thamires Andrade and Eternati Willock each added 12.
"That is what you want. You want balanced scoring," Sanders said. "The more people that we can have scoring the ball, the harder we are to guard."
The Lady T-Birds were all over the glass, pulling down 50 rebounds. Wynn and Hawthorne each had eight while Lewis, Jurnee President, and Andrade each grabbed six.
With the win, the Lady T-Birds improve to 22-4 on the season and move to 10-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play. NMJC will close out the regular season on the road next week with games at Odessa on Monday and Midland on Thursday. The Lady T-Birds last loss came against Odessa College 72-50 at Caster Activity Center last month.
"The most important game is our next one," Sanders said. "We would like to get (Odessa) because they got us here, but the more important thing is we are playing for seedings and the more games we win, the better chance we have of having a high seed and having a better first round game (in the Region V Tournament)."