Lady T-Birds win in Midland
Posted: Mar 05, 2019

Lady T-Birds win in Midland

 

 

 

Lady T-Birds win in Midland

 

The New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team survived its trip to Midland Thursday as the Lady Thunderbirds squeaked by the Lady Chaparrals 64-63 to finish tied with South Plains College for the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) championship as the Lady Plainsmen lost to Odessa College 58-46.

 

"With the South Plains loss, we are sharing the conference championship," Sander said. "Then, with the flip of a coin for the No. 1 seed in the regionals, we go the No. 2 seed in tournament. But, we are co-conference champions and we get to hang another conference banner."

 

The Lady T-Birds jumped out to a 26-12 lead in the first quarter, but were outscored the rest of the way.

 

"We came out and started really, really fast, then we go in foul trouble," Sanders said. "Then we weren't hitting shots and it got really tightened up. Midland played just really well tonight. They played with high intensity and go really physical with us."

 

NMJC managed just 10 points in the second quarter, while Midland poured in 19, giving the Lady T-Birds a 36-31 lead at the break. Midland edged NMJC 15-14 in the third quarter and outscored the Lady T-Birds 17-14 over the final 10 minutes of play.

 

"It was a really big win in a sense that we had the momentum and then let (Midland) get it," Sanders said. "Then we had to fight from behind to win down the stretch with no time outs."

 

The Lady T-Birds had just three players score in double figures. Brenda Costa led the NMJC with 14 points while Thamires Andrade chipped in 11 and Jurnee President added

 

10. Costa also had a team-high nine rebounds for NMJC.

 

Hobbs graduate Amaya Lewis chipped in nine points of the bench. She also had three rebounds, two assists, and a steal. Sydnee Wynn scored eight points while Mayra Caicedo and Eternati Willock each had six points.

 

 

 

The Lady T-Birds finish the regular season at 24-4 and 12-2 in WJCAC play. NMJC will open the Region V Tournament on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. (CST) game against Weatherford.