BASKETBALL: No. 6 Trinity Valley pulls away from Lady Chaps
The Midland College women’s basketball team showed it has a lot of potential against one of the top teams in the country.
By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram
MIDLAND, TEXAS - The Midland College women's basketball team showed it has a lot of potential against one of the top teams in the country.
But Trinity Valley Community College showed why it is ranked No. 6 in the country as the Cardinals had a strong second half to defeat the Lady Chaparrals, 84-77, during Thursday night's action of the Women's National Invitation Tournament at Chaparral Center.
The Lady Chaparrals (5-1) had as much as a 10-point lead in the first half before TVCC rallied to tie at 38-all at the intermission.
The Cardinals (5-0) carried the momentum from late in the first half into the third quarter where they built a 61-55 lead going into the final quarter.
"I think we played well for about half the game," MC coach Ron Jones said. "We're not very deep right now because we have some people who are injured. We had some people who didn't want to pressure the game and it disappoints me because we are more than capable of beating that team with the game plan that we had. We still have way too many possessions on offense that are being wasted. The defense is way ahead of the offense."
For the game, MC shot 44.6% but the Cardinals were just a little bit better at 48.6% and hit 13 of 28 3-point attempts.
The Lady Chaps were also out-rebounded 36-24 and that frustrated Jones even more.
"If you're going to play somebody like Trinity Valley, you're going to have to take the game from them. They're certainly not going to give it to you," Jones said.
Makiyah McCollister led TVCC with a game-high 28 points, Niyah Page added 19 points and 11 rebounds, and Abby Cater had 13 points.
MC had four players in double figures, led by Marin Lenz with 17 points off the bench, Brooke Galvin had 16, Makayla Escue had 13, and Bella Green added 11.
The Lady Chaps will next face No. 23-ranked Hill College at 7 p.m. Friday at Chaparral Center.
HILL BEATS ODESSA COLLEGE: No. 23-ranked Hill College defeated Odessa College 74-63 earlier in the evening.
Hill took a commanding 45-26 halftime lead.
Tyquanna Ross and Laylah Davis led Hill (4-2) with 16 points each, while Jada Williams added 11.
OC (2-1) was led by Lala Niankan with a game-high 20 points.
The Lady Wranglers takes on TVCC at 5 p.m. Friday.