College basketball: Lady Wranglers open WJCAC slate with easy victory

It took six conference games last season before the Odessa College women's basketball team earned its first Western Junior College Athletic Conference victory.

What a difference a year makes.

OC (11-3 overall) dominated Clarendon College 85-51 in the teams' WJCAC openers Wednesday at the OC Sports Center. The Lady Wranglers led the Lady Bulldogs by 22 points at halftime and never trailed.

While Lady Wranglers head coach Ara Baten has been reluctant to compare this year's team to last season's, the OC players certainly relished Wednesday's outcome.

"That's what we said in the locker room: ‘We started off with a win, and we want to keep going with that,' said sophomore guard Diandra Marquez, who led the Lady Wranglers with 20 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the floor.

Sophomore guard Priscilla Mbianja added 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and a team-high 10 rebounds.

"I'm not going to lie," she said. "It feels good. We knew it was a big deal to us to win our first conference game."

OC led by 16 midway through the first half before the Lady Bulldogs pulled within 27-20 at the 6:52 mark. Then, OC went on a 15-0 run in which the Lady Wranglers were able to capitalize on Clarendon turnovers.

The Lady Bulldogs (11-4 overall) turned it over 24 times in the game.

"I think initially we got off to a pretty good start offensively and (the Lady Bulldogs) struggled a little bit offensively and that just kind of snowballed," Baten said. "We're playing OK offensively and defensively we're playing better, but then it comes together - it shouldn't be that way.

"I thought we had a little bit of leadership and we did some good things. We're still a work in progress. ... We're still missing some rotations defensively. We can still block out better. We can have better shot selections. There are a lot of things that not only us but other teams are working on right now."

The Lady Wranglers shot 45.1 percent for the game, while Clarendon shot 32.2 percent. Judith Tabela and Tamika Johnson each had seven rebounds for OC, while Tammie Thornton came off the bench to notch 13 points.

OC outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs 48-42, and the Lady Wranglers kept its aggressive defense throughout the game, tallying 15 steals.

In the second half, with the game in the Lady Wranglers' grasp, Mbianja was still barking defensive assignments.

"I was actually yelling at my teammates," Mbianja said. "Sometimes when we have the lead, we're like, ‘The game is over,' so I have to just motivate my teammates to keep going."

Winners of four consecutive games, the Lady Wranglers continue their conference schedule at 2 p.m. Saturday at South Plains. With one WJCAC victory under their belt, they seem like a confident bunch.

"With everybody that we have and if everyone keeps playing hard, it's going to be pretty tough to beat us," Johnson said. "It's anybody's game, and coach tells us that every day."

Women's WJCAC Standings                                             

                                              Overall        Conference

                                               W        L         W         L

Midland College................... 15        0          1         0

South Plains College............ 12        2          1         0

Odessa College................... 11        3          1         0

New Mexico JC....................... 8        4          0         0

Frank Phillips College............. 6        6          0         0

Howard College.................... 12        2          0         1

Clarendon College............... 11        4          0         1

Western Texas College.......... 2      11          0         1

Wednesday, Dec. 3

Odessa College 85, Clarendon College 51

Midland College 55, Howard College 51

South Plains 80, Western Texas 51

Saturday, Dec. 6

Odessa College at South Plains, 2 p.m.

Midland College at New Mexico JC, 6:30 p.m.

Frank Phillips at Howard College, 5 p.m.

>> Odessa College 85, Clarendon College 51

CLARENDON COLLEGE (11-4, 0-1 WJCAC)

Alex Ray 1-4 0-0 3; Kenisha McDade 0-10 1-2 1; Quinae Thomas 3-5 0-0 7; Joy Usher 0-1 0-0 0; Tra'Niqua Dishmon 4-6 0-0 8; Shaniqua Roberts 3-9 0-0 6; Janee' Williams 4-8 3-4 12; Donisha Bronnon 1-4 0-0 2; Asia Reid 1-4 2-5 4; Ruth Stewart 1-3 0-0 2; Jamie Young 1-5 4-7 6. Totals 19-59 10-19 51.

ODESSA COLLEGE (11-3, 1-0)

Priscilla Mbiandja 7-11 2-2 16; Judith Tabala 2-3 1-2 5; Shon Redmond 2-9 0-2 5; Telisha Joe 2-5 1-3 5; Violet Lindsay 2-4 4-4 8; Diandra Marquez 6-14 5-5 20; Emilie Jones 1-1 0-0 2; Emelda Chew 0-3 0-0 0; Ossierra Monroe 1-1 2-3 4; Tammie Thornton 6-8 1-2 13; Tamika Johnson 3-11 1-1 7. Totals 32-71 17-22 85.

Halftime - Odessa College 48, Clarendon College 26. 3-Point goals - Clarendon 3-11 (Ray 1-4, Thomas 1-3, Roberts 0-1, Williams 1-1, Reid 0-1, Young 0-1), OC 4-18 (Redmond 0-2, Joe 1-3, Lindsay 0-3, Marquez 3-8, Chew 0-1, Thornton 0-1). Total fouls - Clarendon 17, OC 21. Fouled out - None; Technical fouls - None. Rebounds - Clarendon 42 (Young 6), OC 48 (Mbianja 10). Assists - Clarendon 9 (Williams 4), OC 17 (Mbianja 4).