Germond's 18 points, 13 assists lead #2 Lady Texans to decisive 84-71 win over #15 Seward County Friday

LEVELLAND — The second-ranked South Plains College women's basketball team received a career night from sophomore point guard Caroline Germond as the Lady Texans picked up a decisive 84-71 win over #15 Seward County to improve to 12-0 Friday at the Texan Dome.

"Our kids came to play and we had to have everyone step us for this one," South Plains head coach Cayla Petree said. "They did a phenomenal job guarding Sarah and really had our personnel scouted. They are very well coached and made us do things that we were not comfortable doing, and what was great about that was our team responded and we found not just plan b, but also c, d, and e."

Germond led the Lady Texans on the offensive end with 18 points and a career-high 13 assists, knocking down 7 of 14 shots from the floor over 39 minutes. Sophomore Ruth Koang chipped in 17 points and snagged six rebounds off the bench for South Plains, connecting on 7 of 9 shots as the Lady Texans shot a 51.6 percent clip for the game.

Sophomore guard Oceane Robin poured in 14 points, picked three steals and recorded two blocked shots, draining 6 of 10 shots from the field for South Plains. Freshman Ka'Lia Smith netted 6 of 9 attempts from the floor, tallying 14 points and five rebounds in 17 minutes of action.

"I'm really proud of our poise down the stretch and we made big plays in big moments tonight," Petree said. "The way they were guarding Sarah and Ruth allowed Caroline to find seems, and when they hugged up on her she was able to go and create space. Our shooters were shooting a high percentage tonight and those lanes were wide open, and Caroline is very intelligent and was able to make some big plays and create opportunities."

Leading 45-38 at the midway point, Seward's Alanis Hill trimmed the deficit to 53-50 with a runner from five feet with 5:17 to go in the third quarter. Following a free throw from Robin to put the Lady Texans up 54-50 with just over four minutes to go in the third, Seward got within two, 54-52 on a Vanda Cuamba layup with 3:59 remaining in the quarter.

Asia McCoy would then extend the Lady Texans' lead to six with a pair of free throws as the Lady Texans would eventually take a 62-58 advantage into the final stint. Following a steal from Ashala Moseberry, Germond would take the rock and go coast to coast to put South Plains up 10, 68-58 with 8:16 left.

Moseberry would then push the lead to 71-58 with a 3-ball from the top of the circle with 6:40 remaining to give South Plains its biggest lead of the game. Koang would sink the dagger with a turnaround layup off the glass to put the Lady Texans up 84-66 in the final seconds as the Lady Texans shot over 50 percent in the final 10 minutes. South Plains dominated the interior, scoring 50 points inside the paint and received 24 points from their bench.

Seward (8-3) shot 50 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the 3-point line in the contest, led by sophomore Vanda Cuamba who led all scorers with 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting. Karolina Szydlowska finished with 16 points and seven rebounds while Tianna Johnson had 10 and Hill netted nine.

The Lady Texans return to the hardwood on Saturday at 2 p.m. as they return to conference action against Western Texas College at the Texan Dome. The game will stream live at spctexans.com and Michael Wiiest will call the courtside action with pregame slated for 1:45 p.m.