Jan. 13—The New Mexico Junior College Lady Thunderbirds looked as dominant as they have been in the past.
No. 4-ranked New Mexico Junior College delivered No. 19-ranked Odessa College its first loss in conference play with a 68-56 win Monday at the OC Sports Center.
With the win, the Lady Thunderbirds improved to 17-1 overall, 2-1 in WJCAC.
The Lady Wranglers fell to 11-5, 2-1.
“I really thought it was a game of runs,” New Mexico Junior College head coach Austin Mefford said. “We got up by nine and then Odessa College answered back with fifteen and I thought we had a good push at the end. Coach Bedell has a good team every year and it’s just expected that they’ll be ranked high in the country. We hit shots and we did a good job late in the game.”
Last year, the two teams ended up winning a share of the WJCAC regular season title and qualifying for the NJCAA tournament.
The Lady Thunderbirds’ lone loss, so far, came against South Plains College in a 59-57 defeat last week in Levelland, as this year’s WJCAC title race looks to be an intense one.
Amyah Sutton led the Lady Thunderbirds in scoring with 19 points while Fatime Seck scored all five of her baskets from 3-pointers, finishing with 15. Cacia Antonio also finished with 15 points for New Mexico Junior College.
As a team, NMJC went 20-of-57 on field goals, 9-of-21 on 3-pointers and 19-of-24 on free throws.
Odessa College was led by Arminda Joaquim’s 23 points and was the only player for the Lady Wranglers to finish in double figures.
Caitlin Staley had eight points while Juliet Esomchukwu had seven.
Odessa College went 17-of-57 on field goals, 3-of-12 on 3-pointers and 19-of-30 on free throws.
The Lady Thunderbirds began the game on a strong note, going on a 10-2 run.
However, the Lady Wranglers responded with a commanding 15-4 run to take a 17-14 lead.
“That run said that we have heart but we have to be more aggressive and more attentive to detail,” Odessa College head coach Franqua Bedell said. “For us to win this game, we had to make shots and make layups and we didn’t do that. we held them to 68 points which is what exactly what we wanted but they did a good job of making plays and we didn’t do a good job of making plays when we needed to.”
A 3-pointer by New Mexico Junior College’s Amyah Sutton at the first quarter buzzer tied the game up at 17-17.
Shooting would get cold again for the Lady Wranglers in the second quarter.
The Lady Thuderbirds took a 25-21 lead after a free throw by Jada Graves with 7:20 left in the second quarter.
A 3-pointer Fatime Seck made it 28-21 soon after as New Mexico Junior College continued its second scoring run of the game.
Graves’ jump shot gave the Lady Thunderbirds a 35-27 lead with 2:51 left and neither team would find a basket for the remainder of the half.
Odessa College used a strong start to begin the second half, going on an 8-0 run to tie the game.
Juliet Esomchukwu’s layup brought the Lady Wranglers to a 35-31 deficit with 8:29 left in the third quarter.
Consecutive free throws by Joaquim Arminda cut the deficit to 35-33 soon after.
Jaedyn Cook’s layup tied the game up at 3:35 with 7:18 left.
New Mexico Junior College eventually got going with a 9-2 run.
Another outside shot by Seck gave the Lady Thunderbirds a 40-37 lead with 4:44 remaining.
A layup by Pania Davis gave the visitors a 44-37 advantage with 3:54 on the clock.
Sutton scored a wide-open 3-pointer and a layup late in the quarter and New Mexico Junior College had a 52-43 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Seck’s fourth 3-pointer of the game made it 57-45 with 8:11 left.
She continued to make 3-pointers as Seck added her fifth outside basket of the night to make it 62-49 with 6:18 remaining.
Antonio’s transition layup made it 66-51 with 4:39 left as the Lady Thunderbirds built a comfortable lead.
Odessa College’s next game will be next week when the Lady Wranglers host Western Texas College at 2 p.m. Jan. 20 at the OC Sports Center.
New Mexico Junior College will next face Howard College at 6:45 p.m. Thursday in Hobbs, N.M.
