LEVELLAND — Debora Reis recorded her 10th double-double of the season as the fifth-ranked South Plains College women's basketball team clipped Western Texas College 58-54 Thursday at the Texan Dome.
The Lady Texans return to the hardwood on Saturday in Clarendon at 2 p.m., before returning home on March 20 to take on Clarendon College at 2 p.m. at the Texan Dome. Both games will stream live at spctexans.com.
"This was a big win," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "They have a good team and we were tied with them in the conference standings, so this was a big one for us. I thought our kids battled early and battled through some tough minutes. We kept playing and kept fighting, and I'm really proud of their effort tonight."
Trailing 47-46 with under six minutes left, South Plains' Grace Hunter found Reis under the basket for a bucket to begin an 8-2 run capped by a jumper from Jordan Brown to put the Lady Texans up 54-49 with 1:26 to play.
Western would trim the deficit to three, 54-51 on a layup from Clarissa Francis with 57 ticks left, but Hunter would answer on the other end with a conversion at the rim to put the Lady Texans up five, 56-51 with 40 seconds remaining.
"Defensively I thought we did a good job for the most part," Baten said. "They have some good players and got going in the second half, but for the most part, I thought we did a good job defending tonight. We have to turn around and get ready for Saturday and keep going, and we're in the teeth of this conference schedule and we have a lot to play for."
South Plains dropped in 24 points inside the paint and netted 10 points off 13 turnovers from the Lady Westerners. The Lady Texans dominated the glass 49-25, posting 15 points on second-chance opportunities as four Lady Texans scored in double figures.
Hunter dropped in 14 points on 6 of 13 shooting as South Plains shot a 40 percent clip for the game and 46 percent in the final 10 minutes. Reis finished with 10 points and 13 boards over 33 minutes, pouring in 5 of 10 shots from the floor and blocked three shots in the contest.
Viktoria Ivanova totaled 10 points and three rebounds, while sophomore Brown chipped in 10 points and dished out a team-high five assists over 31 minutes.
Francis led all scorers with 24 points, bucketing 7 of 10 shots from the field, and was an unblemished 10-for-10 from the free throw line. Carris Lacy and Shuntorri Rodgers each scored 11 points for Western Texas who shot just 32 percent from the floor and 15.8 percent from distance.