Lady Texans cruise by Temple to advance to Region 5 semifinal

LUBBOCK – Sydney Hearn scored a career high 23 points and Anton native Stephanie Moore added 17 on 7-of-7 shooting from the field to help lead the No. 25-ranked South Plains College Lady Texans advance to the Region 5 semifinal with a 71-55 victory over Temple College, the No. 4 seed from the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference.

With the win, the Lady Texans will face the Midland College Lady Chaps (24-7) at 2 p.m. in the second of two semifinals scheduled for Friday afternoon.

Under the new NJCAA format expanding the national tournament field to 24 teams, the Lady Texans will also be fighting for a spot to play in Salina, Kan. March 18-23 as the Region 5 women's tournament is guaranteed two slots.

If the first half was an indicator, it appeared the Lady Texans might be in for a fight just to get out of the first round.

The Lady Texans (25-5) built up three leads of six points, but Temple was able to fight back each time.

With 5:38 to go in the first half, South Plains led 29-23, but over the next three minutes the Lady Leopards cut their deficit to 30-28.

With time running out, Temple had a chance to tie but missed an attempt with less than a minute to go.  South Plains took advantage with Kayla Turner nailing a 3 to end the half to give her team a five-point lead going into the locker room.

The second half was a completely different story with South Plains taking their first double-digit lead in the first three minutes of the period. 

Temple would get to within single digits only once for the remainder of the game as South Plains College simply dominated the second half on their way to the 71-55 win.

The Lady Texans will now face a Lady Chap team they shared the conference championship with, along with New Mexico, as each team finished with an 11-3 record in conference.  South Plains earned the top-seed on a power-points system.  Midland – who was only one win away from owning the title outright – dropped to the No. 3 seed after falling to New Mexico in their season finale.

South Plains and Midland split their WJCAC contests, with the Lady Texans overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Lady Chaps Jan. 10 at the Texan Dome.  Midland handed the Lady Texans a 61-50 loss at the Chap Center.

Every game of the 2013 Region 5 tournament will be broadcast live over the Internet atwww.spctexans.com.  Fans wishing to tune into SPC games over the air can tune their radio dial to KLVT 1230 AM, where they will hear Michael Wiiest on the call. 

Temple College (21-10)
Courtney Lindsey 1-6 0-0 2, Brittany Gray 1-6 0-0 2, Kia Love 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Best 1-2 0-2 2, Rebekah Knudson 7-11 0-0 14, Chanel Miller 5-13 1-4 11, Aricka Adams 1-7 5-6 7, Shaquille Davis 3-5 1-3 7, Ocleta Young 1-8 0-0 2, Brianna Golden 4-5 0-1 8. Totals 24-63 7-16 55

South Plains College (25-5)
Stephanie Moore 7-7 3-5 17, Sydney Hearn 10-15 3-4 23, Shea Myatt 4-11 0-0 10, Kayla Turner 1-4 0-0 3, Courtney Dawson 0-0 0-0 0, Jasmine Brainard 3-5 5-6 11, TaSheena Moore 2-8 3-4 7, Aundrea Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Alexius Dawn 0-7 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 14-19 71

FG%: Temple College .381, South Plains College .466. 3-pt FG:Temple College 0-8 (Gray 0-1, Knudson 0-1, Miller 0-3, Adams 0-1, Young 0-2), South Plains College 3-14 (Myatt 2-7, Turner 1-2, Moore 0-2, Dawn 0-3). Rebounds: Temple College 32 (Lindsey 6, Miller 6), South Plains College 40 (Dawn 15). Fouls Temple College 14, South Plains College 16. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Temple College 8 (Knudson 2, Miller 2, Young 2), South Plains College 16 (Dawn 7). Steals: Temple College 3 (Lindsey 2), South Plains College 4 (Hearn 1, Turner 1, Moore 1, Davis 1). Blocked shots: Temple College 0, South Plains College 2 (Moore 1, Dawn 1). Turnovers: Temple College 7, South Plains College 9.

Region 5 Women's Quarterfinal scores

Game 1

(W3) Midland  71, (N2) Collin 68

Game 2

(W2) New Mexico 67, (N3) McLennan 54

Game 3

(N1) Weatherford 95, (W4) Odessa 64

Game 4

(W1) South Plains 71, (N4) Temple 55

Region 5 Semifinal Schedule:  Friday, March 8, 2013

12 p.m. (N1) Weatherford vs (W2) New Mexico

 2 p.m. (W1) South Plains vs (W3) Midland