BASKETBALL: Lady Chaps throttle Clarendon College

By Oscar LeRoy
Midland Reporter-Telegram

MIDLAND, TEXAS - Coming off a tough road loss, the Midland College women's basketball team wanted to have some fun on Monday night at the expense of Clarendon College.

The Lady Chaparrals dominated on the boards and had two players record double-doubles as they ran past Clarendon, 90-60, at Chaparral Center.

The Lady Chaps (18-5, 9-2 in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference) not only stayed within a half game of first-place South Plains College but bounced back from a 67-56 loss at No. 9-ranked New Mexico Junior College in a weather make-up game played on Saturday afternoon.

"I was especially happy with nine turnovers because in the last few games we've been having trouble with turnovers, so that was better," MC coach Ron Jones said. "When you don't turn it over, obviously, you have better chances to score, and I think that definitely helped tonight.

"It feels good (to bounce back). I don't think I did a good job of getting my team in the right frame of mind for Saturday's game at New Mexico. We'll learn from that and get ready for the next one."

Lady Chaps sophomore forward Bella Green, who had a game-high 22 points and 13 rebounds, said the Lady Chaps played more as a team on Monday.

"In the last game, we had really low energy and in this game it was the opposite of that and we had high energy," Green said. "The last game we also had like 23 turnovers, and this game we only had nine."

Clarendon (19-7, 4-6) stayed within striking distance early of MC but then a 13-0 run to close the first quarter helped the Lady Chaps get some cushion. MC took a 44-31 lead at the half and then used a 32-13 spurt in the third quarter to put the game away.

"It's really motivating when yourself or your teammates are making shots," Green said. "It's exciting and makes it fun."

The Lady Chaps out-rebounded the smaller Lady Bulldogs 45-31 and both Green and Dana Thompson (11 points and 12 rebounds) recorded a double-double. Makayla Escue added 19 points and every Lady Chap scored at least four points.

"They're playing a lot of minutes because we don't have much depth inside," said Jones of his 6-footers Green and Thompson. "They're doing a good job. We have a different game plan for everybody that we play and I think the reason we got so many of those rebounds is (the Lady Bulldogs) play a lot outside and we kept them in front of us."

Added Green about her game: "Most of my points came from the free-throw line (12 for 12) so it was about being physical inside."

Zariah Sango led Clarendon with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

The Lady Chaps next head to Western Texas College at 5:45 p.m. Thursday. WTC saw a three-game winning streak snapped with a 61-44 loss to New Mexico JC on Monday.

"We know they're going to be ready to go and we went over there last year and lost," said Jones of facing WTC. "I don't think there are any easy conference games on the road."

Follow Oscar on Twitter: @OLeRoy_MRT