LEVELLAND, Texas—Elizabeth Cera never thought her school record of 12 3s in a single contest would be in jeopardy.
How mistaken she was.
Cera scored 49 points and knocked down 14 3-pointers en route to a 124-31 thrashing over the University of the Southwest JV on Thursday night at the Texan Dome. Cera's 49 points against the Lady Mustangs put the sophomore from Levelland in another category in the Lady Texans' record books, surpassing Sheryl Swoope's school record of 45 points in a game, which was set on November 30, 1989 against Clarendon. Cera's previous record of 12 3s came on Feb. 1, 2016 in an 85-56 conference win against Frank Phillips.
"I think the main thing that was working tonight was that we were all working together," Cera said. "My team helped me a lot, and tonight was the night and everyone tried to help me get this record. I really was not expecting this tonight. Sheryl Swoopes is one of the best players ever, and I never thought I could have done anything like this."
South Plains jumped out to a 27-6 lead with under a minute remaining in the first quarter when Cera connected on a 3 from the top of the key. Cera found the net from behind the arc once again at the 5:20 mark in the first half to push the lead to 49-9. Cera would finish the first half with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 7-of-11 from the 3-point line.
"It was a good night for us to be able to come out and get our bench some minutes," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "Everyone was unselfish tonight and competed when it was their time to come out on the floor. Elizabeth Cera did a great job shooting the basketball, but all the credit in the world to her teammates for recognizing she had a hot hand."
South Plains lead 66-9 at the half, shooting 57 percent from the field and 52 percent from long distance. Felicia Jackson finished the first half with 11 points after going 4-for-5 from the field and 3-of-4 from the perimeter.
"We distributed the ball well and did what coach wanted us to do, and it helped us pick up the win," Jackson said. "A win like this lets us know of what we're capable of doing, and it lets us see what we need to work on from here."
The Lady Texans continued to find success on the offensive in the second half side as Cera connected on a 3 from the right wing to extend the lead to 71-11 with 7:50 remaining in the third quarter. South Plains would shoot 40 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes and went on to lead by as much as 97 points late in the fourth quarter.
Joneva Huey scored in double figures for the first time in her college career totaling 10 points and two assists in 13 minutes of action. Madeline Dorris and Anndrea Lloyd would each finish with eight points, while Yanina Inkina totaled nine and Jasauen Beard finished with six for South Plains.