Lady Texans top Howard 54-39, win second straight in conference play

LEVELLAND — The South Plains College women's basketball team picked up its second conference win in as many games Monday, ousting Howard College 54-39 at the Texan Dome.

The Lady Texans move to 9-11 on the season and 2-2 in conference play, and will be back on the floor on Monday, January 29 when they host Frank Phillips at 5:45 p.m. at the Dome. The contest will stream live at spctexans.com and admission to the game is free.

"We didn't play particularly well, but we did enough to win tonight," South Plains head coach Ara Baten said. "I was disappointed in our movement offensively, but were able to get some nice looks late against the zone. We were impatient against the man defense and were taking the first available shot. We didn't get people involved and didn't get the ball inside, and I thought we were poor offensively overall."

Sophomore Jennifer Silva led South Plains on the offensive end, bucketing 10 points to go along with six rebounds over 19 minutes. Dabria Blackwell totaled nine points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes, while Chisom Oguego netted nine points and 13 boards coming off the bench for South Plains.

"Defensively, I thought we played well," Baten said. "We played hard on that side of the ball and gave them some different looks. We went small and were able to switch ball screens near the end of the game, and I thought that was effective. We had 18 offensive rebounds and they had three, and that was key in this game. We have to have more patience, and we have a lot we can improve on."

Elysa Martinez led Howard with 10 points in 34 minutes, while Angel Vergara finished with eight points. The Lady Hawks shot just 26 percent from the floor and were six of 20 from the 3-point line in the contest.