No. 9 Lady Texans throttle Hill College 63-49 to improve to 12-1 on Monday night

LEVELLAND, Texas—12 straight.

Yanina Inkina scored 19 points and Elizabeth Cera finished with 16 as the No. 9 South Plains College Lady Texans throttled Hill College 63-49 to improve to 12-1 on Monday night at the Texan Dome.

Monday's win marks 12 consecutive for the Lady Texans dating back to Nov. 4.

"Our whole team was pretty good tonight," said Inkina, who went 7-of-11 from the floor and 3-for-5 from the perimeter. "We were so locked in because we wanted to beat them again. We played well at their place, and they wanted to get this win back, but we couldn't allow that to happen."

Hill jumped out to an early 10-7 lead to begin the contest which was quickly diminished following a runner off the glass from Cera preceded by a pair of free throws from Dabraisa Baty to give South Plains an 11-10 lead with 3:52 remaining in the first.

Inkina would then connect on a 3 from the top of the key to extend the lead to 14-10. A pair of free throws from Inkina with under three minutes to play in the first quarter capped off a 9-0 run from the Lady Texans and extended the lead to 16-10. South Plains would lead 20-16 after ten minutes.

Sophomore Taylor Holley would find the bucket on a 3-pointer from the left wing to give South Plains a 27-19 advantage midway through the second quarter. The Lady Rebels responded with a 5-0 run of their own. Inkina answered back once again with a 12-foot jumper to push the Lady Texans' lead back to five, 29-24. Inkina would send South Plains into the locker room with a 37-25 advantage following her 3 from the right corner with 34 seconds before the break.

"We knew that this team was going to play zone for 40 minutes," Inkina said. "We had to find the right plays and our pairings on offense. We found their weak spots and we used it."

South Plains continued to execute on offense in the final 20 minutes.

Madeline Dorris found the rim at the 6:54 mark of the third quarter to keep the lead at 11, 41-30. A steal from Brittany Smith followed by a conversion at the bucket extended the lead to 45-32 with 3:59 remaining in the third quarter. Inkina would find success once again with a trey from the top of the key with 10 seconds remaining in the third to give South Plains a 49-39 advantage heading into the final stint.

Hill's Kaylee McConnell would cut South Plains' lead to just nine following a layup with under seven minutes reaming in the contest. The Lady Texans answered the call yet again as Baty weaved her way through the Lady Rebels' zone defense and pushed the lead back to 55-44. Brittany Smith's 3-point play following a conversion at the rim while being fouled extended the lead to 62-46 with 2:26 remaining, capping off a dominating home win against a quality opponent.

"I like winning against anybody on any night at any time," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "But, it was definitely good to get a win against such a good basketball team. I have a lot of respect for coach Hyland and I knew he would make a lot of adjustments. I was very proud of our team down the stretch and I thought they did a great job."