Jan. 20—The Odessa College women’s basketball team managed to survive a 73-68 overtime victory against Western Texas College Monday at the OC Sports Center.
Coming off a 68-56 loss to New Mexico Junior College last week, the Lady Wranglers recovered after avoiding an upset against the Lady Westerners.
Odessa College improved to 12-5 overall, 3-1 in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play.
Despite the win, Odessa College head coach Franqua Bedell was still unhappy with his team’s play.
“We weren’t locked in,” Bedell said. “We weren’t focused. We looked the way we played. We need to get some players that are going to mature and can do this at a high level. It’s just frustrating because we’re not growing and we’re not where I expect us to be at this time of the year.”
Western Texas College fell to 5-12, 0-4.
“We have some really young players,” Western Texas College head coach Rachel Eubank said. “We’re young and we’re growing every single game. I’m proud of the fight in our girls. It’s just a matter of time before we piece it all together.”
The Lady Wranglers saw their 11-point lead in the fourth quarter evaporate as the visitors came close to pulling off their first win in WJCAC play.
However, baskets by Pa’Shawna Wheeler and Aisha Amaral Dos Santos for the Lady Wranglers helped the hosts escape with the win in overtime.
“They attacked the baskets and made the plays that we needed to win,” Bedell said. “It shouldn’t have come down to that but at the end of the day, that’s maturity. We have to get better and get better at executing, both on defense and offense, down the stretch.”
Odessa College was led in scoring by Jaedyn Cook’s 23 points while Dos Santos had 17 and Shakira Brown finished with 12.
The Lady Wranglers shot 25-of-60 on field goals while going 4-of-15 on 3-pointers and 19-of-28 on free throws.
The Lady Westerners were led in scoring by Kynli Hart’s 19 points while Mia Riley had 18 and Katy Elder finished with 11.
Western Texas College shot 29-of-62 on field goals, 9-of-21 on 3-pointers and 2-of-4 on free throws.
The Lady Wranglers began the game on a 7-3 run with 5:11 left in the first quarter.
By the end of the first quarter, Odessa College had an 18-9 lead.
Western Texas College fought back in the second quarter and managed to cut Odessa College’s lead to 25-20 after a 3-pointer by Hart at the 5:57 mark.
The Lady Wranglers ended the first half with a 33-26 lead.
The Lady Westerners began the second half with a 3-pointer by Hart.
A 3-pointer by Elder brought the Lady Westerners to only a 38-37 deficit with 5:44 remaining in the third quarter and Odessa College called a timeout.
The Lady Wranglers responded with a quick 4-0 run which included a layup by Cook before the media timeout.
The Lady Wranglers quickly built a 46-40 lead which a layup by Dos Santos with 3:50 remaining.
The hosts entered the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead.
The Lady Wranglers built a 56-45 lead after a layup by Cook with 7:24 left in regulation.
Western Texas College, however, didn’t go away as Riley cut the Lady Wranglers’ lead to 56-47 with her jump shot at the 6:27 mark.
A jump shot by Hart made it 56-49 with 4:17 remaining as the Lady Westerners took advantage of OC’s cold shooting.
A basket by Riley was followed by a transition bucket from her teammate Kendall Carlock as Odessa College then called a timeout with the lead cut down to 56-53 with 3:07 left.
A jump shot by Elder to make it a one-point game.
Shortly after the Lady Westerners took the lead off a basket bay Riley.
A free throw by Brown tied the game up.
But the Lady Westerners responded with an inside shot by Marissa Garcia.
A layup by Jada Jones tied the game up with 44 seconds left.
With 11 seconds remaining, the Lady Wranglers failed to get the game-winning shot and the ball went out of bounds off turnover by Cook with 4.4 seconds to go.
A 3-pointer attempt by a wide-open Hannah Simmons for WTC clunked off the rim as the buzzer sounded, sending the game into overtime.
“It just took us to piece some things together,” Eubank said of her team’s late comeback. “We’ve been working really hard and when you piece those things together in practice, it’ll all come together in games.”
The Lady Wranglers began overtime with a 3-pointer by Dos Santos.
A transition layup by Carlock gave the visitors a 66-65 lead with 1:47 left as both teams traded baskets.
OC reclaimed the lead off consecutive free throws by Wheeler for a 67-66 advantage.
Wheeler added two more crucial free throws for a 69-66 lead with under a minute to go in overtime.
A foul by Garcia sent Dos Santos to the line where she made one of two shots for a 70-66 lead.
Odessa College would get the ball back on the rebound.
Dos Santos would make a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.
Odessa College will next face Clarendon College on the road at 5:45 p.m. Thursday in Clarendon.
Next up for Western Texas College will be a home game against 5:45 p.m. Thursday in Snyder.
