No. 4 Lady T-Birds win 12th straight

HOBBS, N.M. — Facing an undersized South Plains squad that didn't feature a player over 5-foot-9, the fourth-ranked New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team's posts feasted on the interior in leading the Lady Thunderbirds to an 81-50 victory Monday at Caster Activity Center.

Six-foot-2 Antoina Robinson, 6-foot-1 Angelica de Paulo and 5-foot-10 Nycolle Smith combined to score 47 of the Lady T-Birds' 81 points – including NMJC's first 21 points to build a 21-4 advantage with 12:25 left in the first half.

"We emphasized in practice of getting it inside because we knew they weren't very big," NMJC coach Drew Sanders said. "I was a bit surprised that they were playing behind them and letting them catch it. They all did a good job of finishing."

It was a de Paulo three-point play with 17:49 left in the first that gave NMJC, which has won 12 consecutive games and 29 in a row at home, the lead for good at 5-3.

The play also ignited a 19-1 run for NMJC (23-1, 10-0) capped by a Robinson jumper from the elbow to make it 21-4 with Robinson and de Paulo accounting for 19 of those points and the other two coming from the freshman Smith.

South Plains didn't go away as a 10-0 Lady Texans run capped by a Paris Townsend 3-pointer with 7:54 left in the half made it 21-14 NMJC.

But a 3-pointer from the corner from Viktoriia Kotilevskaia for NMJC (its first points from a non-post player) broke a scoreless streak of 5 minutes, 26 seconds, and started a 15-4 run to end the half to take a 36-18 lead at the break.

NMJC's lead continued to grow in the second half as the Lady T-Birds were never threatened.

de Paulo led NMJC with 17 points, Smith finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds while Robinson had 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. Da Havalan Watts added nine points and eight rebounds as well for the Lady T-Birds.

Courtney Randle led South Plains with 10 points.

The victory keeps NMJC two games ahead of Odessa and Midland in the WJCAC.

The Lady T-Birds travel to play Odessa on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. (CST).