Lady Texans oust Phoenix College 59-43 Friday in Scottsdale

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — La'Praisjah Johnson poured in 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and Gabbie Green totaled 11 points and six boards as the South Plains College women's basketball team improved to 11-4 on the year with a 59-43 drumming of Phoenix College on Friday at the Bill Culver Memorial Classic.

"It feels great knowing that we can bounce back from a loss and come out and pick up a good win like this," Green said. "We know what we have to do and we have to use each other to continue to get better and battle through adversity. If we can limit our mistakes and limit our turnovers we can be a very good team."

Chloe Warrington put the Lady Bears (7-5) up 3 to begin the contest which the Lady Texans answered with a 20-2 run. Despite shooting just 34 percent (9-26) from the field in the first half, South Plains held Phoenix to a 21 percent (4-19) shooting mark in the front half as the Lady Texans would take a 28-20 lead in the break after two quarters.

"Coach Petree is always telling us to value each possession, and every ball has to be ours," said Chantel Govan, who finished with nine points and two rebounds. "We came out somewhat strong to begin the game and kind of fell off at the end of the first half, and definitely tried to pick it up on both ends in the second half. We need to bring that energy every game and be able to finish every quarter and every game."

South Plains continued to bear down on the defensive end in the second half, forcing Phoenix to shoot just 25 percent (5-20) in the back half as the Lady Bears committed 16 turnovers in the contest. The Lady Texans shot 44 percent (11-25) in the second half and outrebounded their counterpart 41-27 on the glass.

South Plains' Chelsea Hunter finished with five points, four boards and handed out four assists while Christina Bakker chipped in seven points to go along with eight boards over 22 minutes. Warrington led all scorers with 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting for the Lady Bears, while Jasmine Covington finished with eight points and Lea Mutoni totaled six points and seven rebounds.

"Dropping the game yesterday definitely got us motivated and we came out with a little more urgency today," Hunter said. "Picking up a win today somewhat helps us get our feet back under us and hopefully we can use this to gain some momentum."

South Plains will be back on the hardwood on Saturday when they tipoff against Scottsdale Community College at 7 p.m. MST in Scottsdale.