No. 7 Lady T-Birds have little trouble with Frank Phillips

HOBBS, N.M. — The seventh-ranked New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team after two straight subpar first halves against teams from the bottom half of the WJCAC jumped out to an 22-4 lead on Frank Phillips on Thursday and never looked back for a 91-53 victory at Caster Activity Center.

The Lady Thunderbirds, who have won 10 straight, trailed Clarendon (13-11, 3-5) by a point at the half at home Monday and led Howard (5-17, 0-8) by just six at the half a week ago before blowing both teams out in the second half.

That wasn't the case Thursday as NMJC (21-1, 8-0), which has won 28-straight home games, pounced on Frank Phillips (17-5, 4-4) from the opening tip.

"It felt like as a whole we played a pretty complete game," NMJC coach Drew Sanders said. "We had a few lapses here and there, but they weren't too bad. … The primary thing for us is to not develop bad habits during games and in practice. We had a few games in a row where we just weren't focused for a half and that was carrying over to practice as well."

NMJC held a 6-4 advantage when a pair of free throws by Angelica de Paulo started a 16-0 run for the Lady T-Birds. de Paulo had eight of the Lady T-Birds' points during the run while Alana da Silva capped the run with a bucket to make it 22-4 with 13:17 remaining in the first half.

A 3-pointer and drive and score by Kelsey Criner on back-to-back possessions pushed the NMJC lead to over 20 at 31-10 with 10:20 left as NMJC – which remains two games up on second-place Odessa and Midland in the WJCAC – eventually took a 45-19 lead into the half.

NMJC went on to outscore Frank Phillips 46-34 in the second half to cruise to the 38-point victory.

de Paulo led five Lady T-Birds in double figures with 27 points to go along with seven rebounds. Criner finished with 13 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals, Viktoriia Kotilevskaia had 13 points and six rebounds, Nycolle Smith had 10 points and 10 rebounds while da Silva had 10 points, seven assists and two steals.

Mattie Turner led Frank Phillips with 14 points.

The Lady Thunderbirds travel to play Western Texas on Thursday in Snyder, Texas.