Strong Second Half Pushes SPC Women To Victory

Strong Second Half Pushes SPC Women To Victory
LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Lady Texans improved to 6-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference competition and 19-5 overall when they defeated the Western Texas College Lady Texans Thursday night at the Texan Dome.

After jumping out to a 23-9 lead with 9:59 remaining in the first half, SPC allowed Western Texas to go on a 9-0 run over the next five minutes to pull within five points.  The Lady Texans then outscored WTC 8-4 and led 31-22 with eleven seconds left on the clock.  With the ball and enough time for one more shot, Western Texas put the ball in Randa Clabaugh's hands and with only one second remaining she converted three of her game high 23 points.  The two teams then went to the locker room with South Plains College leading 31-25.  

Returning from the locker room, Western Texas decided to try to make the game interesting and pulled within one point in the first ninety seconds by beginning the half on a 5-0 scoring run.  Rachel Gray then got the Lady Texans first points of the half after she stole the ball from WTC's April Christie and ran the length of the floor for a layup to make the score 33-30. 
After both teams took turns scoring a bucket, WTC tied the game on another Randa Clabaugh three pointer, 35-35 with 15:11 to go in the game.  Led by six points by SPC guard Sajoyia Griffin, the Lady Texans went on a 10-0 scoring run to take a ten point lead with just over eleven minutes to go.  After that, South Plains would not allow Western Texas to get closer than seven points as they dominated the remainder of the game to win 74-55.

Taniqua Ards led SPC in scoring with 17 points.  Sajoyia Griffin added 13 points and seven assists, while freshman post Samiesha Williams scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds.  Chasity Workman had another big night crashing the boards, pulling in 11 rebounds.

The Lady Texans will travel to Odessa College on Monday, February 2.  South Plains has defeated Odessa twice this year; 73-66 on November 21 at the WJCAC pre-conference tournament and 67-62 on December 2.  Odessa entered today's game versus Clarendon with a 3-3 conference record, ranking them fourth in the WJCAC.  

Monday's game will be aired live on KLVT 1230 AM and www.hprnetwork.com.  The women are scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off and the men go at 7:30 p.m.