Lady Texans knock off NMJC to claim No. 3 seed

February 24, 2011

LEVELLAND, Texas - Ashley Roberts scored a team high 18 points and Kelsey Canavan contributed with her 14^thconsecutive double-double - her 20^th of the season - with 16 points and 11 rebounds to help lead the South Plains College Lady Texans to a 59-50 victory over New Mexico Junior College Thursday night at the Texan Dome.

With the win, South Plains (19-8, 8-4) will enter next month's Region V tournament as the No. 3 seed from the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) and will likely face Cisco College (23-6, 13-2), the No. 2 seed from the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference (NTJCAC).

The Lady Texans appeared to have the game in control early as they jumped out to as much as a 16 point lead before going to the locker room up 12, 34-22.

An 18-6 run by the Lady T-Birds in the opening minutes of the second half quickly made the game competitive again as New Mexico was able to knot the score up at 40 with 12 minutes, 47 seconds to go in the game.

The Lady Texans never relinquished their lead, though, and went on to claim the victory.

As a team, the Lady Texans made 22-of-53 shots from the field, including five-of-13 from beyond the arc. They successfully converted 10-of-15 shots from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle 38-31.

The two teams combined for 44 turnovers in the game.

The Lady Texans will open up Region 5 tournament play at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 3. The tournament will be contested at Lubbock Christian University's Rip Griffin Center and all games can be watched live at www.psblive.com.