Dominant first half leads to Lady Texan victory over Frank Phillips

February 17, 2011
LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Lady Texans thoroughly dominated the first 20 minutes of their game against Frank Phillips College Thursday night at the Texan Dome when they outscored the Lady Plainsmen 33-9. The Lady Texans (17-8, 7-4) went on to win the game 57-49 and remain 11/2 games ahead of Howard College and New Mexico Junior College for the third spot in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) and only one-half game behind second place Odessa.

Playing every minute of the game, sophomore Kelsey Canavan tied her own Lady Texan record of 23 rebounds and also scored a game high of 18 points to record her 18th double-double of the season and 30th of her Lady Texan career.

Ashley Roberts opened up the second half by giving the Lady Texans their largest lead of the night, 27 points, with a three-point bucket.

A 16-4 scoring run would pull Frank Phillips to within 15 points of the lead with 11 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the game. The Lady Plainsmen would not get to within a single digit deficit until less than a minute remained on the clock and the Lady Texans would go on to win by eight.

Toi'Easha Cooper was not far off her second career double-double as she finished the game with 12 points and eight rebounds. Cooper made 6-of-7 shots from the field. Roberts scored 16 points while seeing 40 minutes of action. Raely Parada pulled down a season high nine rebounds.

In an attempt to raise money to help fight breast cancer, the South Plains College athletic department raffled off a trip to Las Vegas. At halftime of the Texan game, former Texas Tech Lady Raider head coach Marsha Sharp drew and announced the winner, SPC Spanis teacher Dr. Ifan Knotts.

The Lady Texans will hit the road on Monday, February 21 when they travel to Clarendon College in a non-conference matchup slated for 5:30 p.m, giving them one week off from conference action. They will return to the Texan Dome for their regular season finale against New Mexico Junior College next Thursday, February 24 at 5:45 p.m.