Late Lady Texan rally comes up short against Midland

January 13, 2011
LEVELLAND, Texas - The Lady Texans of South Plains College fell to 9-6 overall and 0-2 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) play when they were defeated by No. 7 ranked Midland College 65-61 Thursday evening at the Texan Dome.

After SPC jumped out to a seven point lead in the opening minutes of the first half, Midland College fought back and the two teams proceeded to duke it out through five ties. At the 6:06 mark and with the score tied at 17-17, the Lady Chaps took control of the game by taking an eight point lead to the half, 30-22.

In the first three minutes of the second half, the Lady Texans were able to narrow the eight point halftime deficit to only four, 34-30. Again, Midland answered, and with 7:18 remaining in the game the Lady Texans stared at a 14 point deficit.

Freshman Ashley Roberts then led the Lady Texans on a tear by scoring 11 of her game high 25 points in the next six minutes to help SPC get to within a three point shot of tying the lead with just over a minute to go.

After Roberts converted the deep three to make it a 63-60 ballgame, Midland coach Ron Jones called a timeout to talk things over. On the Lady Chaps next possession SPC gave up three offensive rebounds that allowed Midland to milk precious seconds off the clock. Toi'Easha Cooper fouled a Midland opponent after the third offensive board and that wound up making it a two possession ballgame once free throws were converted and Midland went on to improve to 16-3 on the season and 2-0 in conference play.

In addition to the 25 points poured in by Roberts, Kelsey Canavan recorded 13 points and 17 rebounds and Lorie Romaine scored 14.

The Lady Texans will return to action on Monday, January 17 when they travel to Snyder to take on the Western Texas College Lady Westerners (11-9, 1-1). The Lady Westerners lost their conference opener to Odessa on Monday night and defeated Frank Phillips 86-59 Thursday night in Borger.

Tip-off January 17th in Snyder is set for 5:45 p.m. and will be streamed live online. Information can be found at www.spctexans.com. The High Plains Radio network will provide audio coverage on KLVT 1230 AM as well as www.hprnetwork.com.