LUBBOCK — The South Plains College women's basketball team jumped out to a six-point lead at the midway point, but a fourth quarter surge from Western Nebraska would be enough in the final minutes as the Lady Cougars topped the Lady Texans 63-51 Saturday in the Elite 8 round of the NJCAA Women's Basketball National Tournament at the Rip Griffin Center.
Ashala Moseberry led all scorers with 11 points in the front half as South Plains outscored the Lady Cougars 18-11 in the opening quarter and would take a 30-24 lead into the locker room at the break. Western Nebraska answered with an 11-0 run coming out of the half, taking a 35-30 lead on a layup from Matrice Brooks with just under six minutes to play in the third.
South Plains would retake the lead with 49 seconds to go in the third as Matilda Soderlund scored seven consecutive points for the Lady Texans, including a 3 from the top of the key to put SPC back up 39-37.
Deadlocked at 44 apiece midway through the final stint, the Lady Cougars would rip off a 10-0 run to take a 54-44 lead on a jumper from Ale-Jah Douglas with just under three minutes remaining, which would prove to be enough in the end as Western Nebraska was able to hold off South Plains in the closing minutes. South Plains shot 23.1 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from the distance in the contest, while Western Nebraska shot a 39.7 percent clip from the floor and were just 3 of 11 from distance.
Moseberry finished with a team-high 11 points while Raija Todd netted 10 points over 33 minutes. Soderlund tallied 10 points coming off the bench while Viktoria Ivanova recorded six points and seven boards for South Plains.
Both teams battled on the glass, each pulling in 45 rebounds, but Western Nebraska enjoy a sizeable advantage inside, outscoring South Plains 36-6 inside the paint. The Lady Texans created offense from their defense, pouring in 13 points on 12 forced turnovers.
South Plains caps the year as winners of eight of their final nine games, tallying an overall record of 22-9 on the year.