BIG SPRING — The South Plains College women's basketball team fell to Howard College 54-46 Monday night at Dorothy Garrett Coliseum.
The Lady Texans move to 13-6 on the year and 0-3 in conference play and will return to the hardwood on Jan. 15 when they travel to Hobbs for a matchup with New Mexico Junior College at 5:45 p.m.
Gabbie Green led South Plains with 12 points, knocking down 5 of 13 attempts over 31 minutes. Chelsea Hunter was 4-for-6 from the field, tallying eight points to go along with three rebounds and a pair of assists, while Maddie Dorris and Christina Baker each finished with seven points.
Howard's Corbyn Cunningham scored a game-high 17 points and also grabbed eight boards as the Lady Hawks improved 11-8 on the season and 1-2 in the WJCAC. Kaki Simpson punched in 14 points thanks to a trio of 3s while also corralling four boards and handing out four assists. Ruthie Fox and Kendall Alsup each finished with seven points while Taylor Allison had four and Addyson Moseley had three.
South Plains would shoot just 34 percent from the field and 18 percent from the perimeter in the contest. Howard posted a 40.9 percent mark from the field over four quarters and were just 5 of 12 from 3. Howard won the battle on the glass outrebounding the Lady Texans 38-27 and scored 15 points on second-chance opportunities.
South Plains received 20 points off the bench and forced the Lady Hawks into 15 turnovers on the defensive end. Despite this, in a game that was deadlocked for nearly four quarters, the Lady Hawks used a late 7-0 run midway through the fourth to pull away late and escape with the win.
"I think our conference is as good as its ever been from top to bottom, but you can't expect to win when you shoot 22 3s on the road," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "We shot that many 3s and just eight free throws, and that just shows we're being passive on offense. The most aggressive team on offense and defense is going to win, and currently, we're not aggressive on either side of the ball and we need to find ways to fix that."