LEVELLAND — Gabbie Green scored 23 points and picked four steals while Keke Hunter poured in 14 points and grabbed 15 boards as the No. 11 ranked South Plains College women's basketball team pounded Connors State 81-44 Friday night at the Texan Dome.
With the win, South Plains improves to 13-1 on the year and will close out the fall semester in a 2 p.m. contest against Hill College on Sunday at the Texan Dome. The game will be streaming live at spctexans.com and live stats will be available on the women's basketball schedule page at spctexans.com.
"I wasn't really happy with how we started the game, but we came out in the third quarter and were a lot more aggressive," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "We only had four turnovers in the second half and I thought we valued the basketball a lot better and took better shots. We take a lot of pride in our defense and want to pressure up on the ball and be active in passing lanes, and we were super aggressive tonight and I think that's what contributes to our offense and helps us find high percentage shots."
Leading 40-20 at the half, South Plains ripped off a 30-7 run to begin the final stint as freshman Nyah Morris bucketed 10 points in the third quarter, knocking down a pair of 3s to begin the second half. Green would finish 10 of 14 from the floor over 36 minutes while Hunter dropped in 6 of 9 attempts and grabbed eight rebounds on the defensive end.
Ruth Koang chipped in 10 points on 4 of 8 shooting from the floor coming off the bench for the Lady Texans while Caroline Germond netted seven points, three steals and three assists and Sarah Shematsi finished with eight points and four boards.
South Plains shot 52.4 percent from the floor while holding the Cowgirls (8-5) to a 28.6 percent mark from the field and just 4 of 19 from the 3-point line. The Lady Texans dominated inside the paint as they won the battle on the glass 39-25 and scored 30 points off 28 turnovers from Connors State.
The Lady Texans would receive 25 points off the bench in a game they would go on to lead by as much as 45 late in the third quarter. Lauren Wright led the Cowgirls with 11 points sinking 3 of 4 shots from the floor in just six minutes of action. Cheyenne Marshall netted nine points and three rebounds for Connors State while Vicky Duru pitched in with seven and Sadie Carter netted four.
"We want to run and I think one of our strengths is that we are really fast," Petree said. "If we can combine that with our depth and run people we can have some success. We have another big-time game on Sunday against Hill and it will definitely be a great game to come out and watch."