WOLFFORTH — The South Plains College women's basketball team will play for a fourth consecutive Region V Tournament Championship on Saturday following a 69-67 double overtime thriller over McLennan on Friday in the semifinal round at the Tiger Pit.
South Plains will square off with conference foe New Mexico Junior College at 4:30 p.m. at the Tiger Pit, with the winner earning an automatic berth to the NJCAA Women's Basketball National Tournament.
Deadlocked at 64 apiece with 1:23 to play in the second overtime period, McLennan's Saneea Bevley buried a 3 from the top of the key to give the Highlassies a 67-64 cushion. South Plains' sophomore Matilda Soderlund would answer back and knock down arguably the biggest shot of her collegiate career, as the five-foot-six guard from Sweden drained a triple from the top of the key to tie the game at 67 all with under a minute to play.
South Plains would then turn defense into offense on the following possession as Daiysha Brown crossed up Bevley on the defensive end, stealing the ball and taking it the length of the floor as Brown converted at the rim to put the Lady Texans up 69-67 with 19 seconds to play.
McLennan would get the final possession and chose to go for the win as Miannah Little put up a 3 with two defenders in her face from the left corner. The shot never had a chance, as it fell a foot short of the basket as the final seconds trickled away to send SPC back to the region title game.
Celia Sumbane led South Plains with 20 points and nine boards over 27 minutes, pouring in five of 10 shots from the field and was 10 of 11 from the free throw line. Vitoria Carvalho finished with 16 points and eight boards coming off the bench for South Plains, while Brown netted 16 points and handed out a team-high six assists.
South Plains forced 12 turnovers on the defensive end, resulting in 12 points on the other end of the floor, and outscored McLennan 38-16 inside the paint. SPC tallied 14 points on second-chance opportunities and received 18 points from their bench in the contest.