No. 13 Lady T-Birds cruise past NEO, 68-42

HOBBS, N.M. — Nearly a month removed from its last game, the No. 13 New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team showed little rust as it jumped out to an early lead and never let it go during a 68-42 victory over Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Friday at Caster Activity Center on the opening day of the T-Bird Shootout.

The Lady Thunderbirds (13-1), who last played Dec. 3 and hadn't played at home since Nov. 21, needed less than eight minutes to build a double-digit lead as a three-point play by De Havalan Watts made it 17-7 over NEO (10-4) with 12:25 left in the first half.

NMJC capped the half when a no-look, over-the-shoulder pass from Angelica de Paulo to Camille Mills made it 33-20 at the break.

The lead continued to grow as an Alana da Silva bucket with 5:54 left increased the NMJC lead to over 20 at 52-31. The Lady T–Birds' lead reached 25 when Malaik Muhammad drained back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 60-35 NMJC with 4:10 left in the contest.

Nycolle Smith (12 points, 11 rebounds) and de Paulo (11 points, 12 rebounds) each finished with a double-double while da Silva had 11 points and Antoina Robinson added 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

NMJC's defense held NEO to 16.1 percent shooting from the field (10-for-62), including just 3.8 percent from 3-point range (1-for-26). The Lady T-Birds also dominated the glass, outrebounding NEO 64-40.

NMJC continues play in the T-Bird Shootout 2 p.m. Saturday against Southwest Texas Junior College at Caster Activity Center.