No. 5 Lady T-Birds win Region V opener

BROWNWOOD, Texas — The fifth-ranked New Mexico Junior College women's basketball team used a strong defensive effort to force 28 Weatherford College turnovers and overcome a small halftime deficit to win 73-67 Wednesday in the opening round of the Region V Tournament at Brownwood Coliseum.

The Lady Thunderbirds (26-3) advance to the semifinals where they will face WJCAC-foe Midland College noon (CST) Friday. Midland defeated Temple 59-48 on Wednesday. That semifinal game can be watched on www.psblive.com.

In Wednesday's contest NMJC trailed 47-41 with 14:07 remaining in the game when it started chipping away at the Lady Coyote (14-12) lead.

A pair of Alana da Silva free throws, a steal and an Antoina Robinson basket all occurred within 10 seconds to cut the Weatherford lead to 47-45.

NMJC took control of the game when da Silva scored, got a steal in the backcourt and scored again with 10:13 left to give the Lady T-Birds a lead they wouldn't relinquish at 52-50.

That was part of a 10-2 run capped by two Angelica de Paulo free throws (she went 12-for-17 from the line and finished with 26 points) as NMJC built a 58-52 advantage.

Weatherford wouldn't go away despite having four starters foul out during the course of the second half, but could never regain the lead against the Lady T-Birds.

NMJC held a 70-67 left in the final minute when Kelsey Criner sank a 3-pointer from the corner with 29.9 seconds left to put the game away.

A key for NMJC was forcing those 28 Weatherford turnovers on 22 steals – leading to 29 points off those turnovers, including 18 fast-break points. That helped counter being outrebounded by the Lady Coyotes 56-46, including giving up 22 offensive rebounds that led to 24 second-chance points.

After committing 11 turnovers of its own in the first half, NMJC had just four in the final 20 minutes.

To go along with de Paulo's 26 points, seven rebounds, five steals and three blocks, Criner had 13 points, Robinson had 11 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks and da Silva had 11 points, six assists, six steals and four rebounds.

Allea Harris paced Weatherford with 14 points.