LEVELLAND — Matilda Soderlund scored a career-high 22 points Monday as the South Plains College women's basketball team improved to 2-0 in conference play with an 83-58 victory over Frank Phillips at the Texan Dome.
The Lady Texans move to 8-7 on the season and will be back on the road Thursday when they take on New Mexico Junior College at 5:45 p.m. MST in Hobbs. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com.
"We had some good minutes tonight, but we also had some bad minutes, and you have to give credit to Frank Phillips," South Plains College head coach Ara Baten said. "This game was a lot closer than the final score indicates, and this was a tough game for three and a half quarters, and we just pulled away at the end. Overall, it's a conference win, and I'm happy with the way our kids played."
Soderlund finished eight of 16 from the field and six of 13 from distance over 35 minutes as the Lady Texans shot 45.5 percent from the field in the contest. Vitoria Carvalho recorded a season-high 17 points and 13 boards, connecting on eight of 10 shots coming off the bench for South Plains.
"Our Execution was somewhat spotty, but when it's good, we're going to get good shots," Baten said. "When we are casual with the ball and don't move it, we don't get good shots. When we do the things we are supposed to do and move the ball inside out, we're going to create opportunities to make some big shots."
Celia Sumbane scored in double figures for the 14th time this season, netting her fourth double-double of the year, pouring in 14 points to go along with 11 boards over 31 minutes. Daiysha Brown chipped in nine points, dished out a game-high nine assists, and also snagged seven rebounds for South Plains in 36 minutes of play.
"At some point, you have to sit down in your stance and guard the person in front of you," Baten said. "I still don't think we did a great job in regards to defensive rebounds, and we have to play better in that area. We have to keep getting better, and we have to be better on Thursday than we were today and keep getting better every opportunity we get."