Lady Texans fall to Western Texas 50-41 Monday in Snyder

SNYDER, Texas — The South Plains College women's basketball team fell to Western Texas 50-41 Monday night at Invenergy Coliseum.

South Plains (15-13, 2-10) forced Western Texas to shoot just 33 percent from the field in the contest and 36 percent from behind the arc, but 30 turnovers on the offensive end proved to be too much in the final minutes.

"You can't win a basketball game with 30 turnovers, and Western Texas made aggressive plays on the defensive end tonight," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "Mental errors and unforced turnovers killed us. We weren't disciplined on offense with our passes and it cost us in this one."

Leading 37-34 after three quarters, Western Texas utilized a 10-0 run to begin the final stint capped by a pair of free throws from Avery Gregory with 4:32 to play to extend the lead to 47-34. South Plains would get within eight on a Mikayla Kuehne' jumper with 2:31 left, but it wouldn't be enough as Western poured in five free throws in the final minutes to escape.

Western Texas' Catara Samuel led all scorers with 21 points, knocking down 7 of 13 attempts from the floor to go along with five rebounds and five steals. Gregory finished with nine points and four steals while Allison Valdez chipped in seven and McKenna Spikes tallied five points and four boards.

Kuehne scored a team-high 13 points to go along with six boards and four assists as the Lady Texans shot 37 percent from the floor and 19 percent from the perimeter. Freshman Christina Baker netted 10 points and seven rebounds over 22 minutes while Gabbie Green chipped in six and Chantel Govan had five.

South Plains will return to action on Feb. 26 in Clarendon at 5:45 p.m., before ending the regular season at home on March 1 against Odessa College.