College basketball: Lady Wranglers have no problem against Lady Westerners

It's not even Thanksgiving yet, and already the Odessa College women's basketball team has matched its win total from last year.

The Lady Wranglers tallied their seventh victory with a 79-36 win over Western Texas College on Thursday at Midland College in the first round of the three-day preconference Western Junior College Athletic Conference tournament.

OC (7-1) will play at 5:30 p.m. today against the winner of Thursday's South Plains-New Mexico Junior College game coming off one of its best performances this season.

The Lady Wranglers were ahead 37-10 at halftime and held the Lady Westerners scoreless from the 13:08 mark in the first half until intermission.

In the stretch, OC played aggressive defense - it finished with 19 steals - and got to the free-throw line often (the Lady Wranglers finished 20-for-26 from the free-throw line and shot 36.6 percent from the field).

OC was behind 10-9 when it went on its tear. It also helped that Western Texas struggled to get the ball in the hoop, shooting 17.4 percent from the field.

"I can relate," OC head coach Ara Baten said of the Lady Westerners struggles.

His team went through the same thing many times last year, and although he's pleased with the early season performances, the fact that it has matched last season's win total (the Lady Wranglers didn't get their seventh win until Feb. 25 last year) wasn't a celebratory mark.

"I don't really look at it that way," Baten said. "We have some goals for ourselves as the season goes on. I don't necessarily look at it in terms of how many games we've won, how many games we've lost.

"Obviously we're glad we're winning more than we're losing, but we're trying to get better, and I feel we're getting better as the season goes along."

Sophomore guard Priscilla Mbiandja allowed herself to relish a little more in the win.

"It feels great," said Mbiandja, who had three steals, five points and was 3-for-4 from the free-throw line. "Especially compared to last year, it feels good."

Sophomore guard Diandra Marquez had a team-high 15 points, going 3-for-4 from behind the 3-point line. Freshman guard Shon Redmond contributed 13 points and a team-high four assists. Sophomore guard Keisha Harris came off the bench to notch 10 points in less than 12 minutes.

"That's the thing about our team," Baten said. "There are a lot of girls capable of scoring. We're probably going to have different people step up on different days." 

>> WJCAC Preconference Tournament

Thursday-Saturday

At Midland College's Chaparral Center

THURSDAY'S SCORES

First Round

Odessa College 79, Western Texas College 36

Howard College 62, Frank Phillips College 36

South Plains College 89, New Mexico Junior College 84 (OT)

Midland College 79, Clarendon College 54

FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE

Championship Semifinals

5:30 p.m. - Odessa College vs. South Plains College.

7:30 p.m. - Midland College vs. Howard College.

Consolation Semifinals

1 p.m. - Western Texas College vs. New Mexico Junior College.

3 p.m. - Frank Phillips College vs. Clarendon College.

SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE

Championship

7:30 p.m. - Semifinal winners.

Third place

5:30 p.m. - Semifinal losers.

Fifth Place

3 p.m. - Consolation semifinal winners.

Seventh Place

1 p.m. - Consolation semifinal losers. 

>> Odessa College 79, Western Texas College 36

WJCAC Preconference Tournament

At Midland College's Chaparral Center

WESTERN TEXAS COLLEGE 

Katrice Price 1-8 0-4 2; Randa Clabaugh 4-11 2-2 11; April Christie 5-17 6-10 18; Bailey Guthrie 0-4 3-4 3; Mahogany Terry 0-2 0-2 0; Ariel Sanchez 0-4 0-2 0; Shirelle Givens 0-4 0-0 0; Katarina Powdrell 0-4 2-2 2; Kayla Parish 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 10-56 13-26 36.

ODESSA COLLEGE (7-1) 

Priscilla Mbiandja 1-7 3-4 5; Judith Tabala 1-2 1-1 3; Shon Redmond 5-6 2-2 13; Telisha Joe 0-3 0-0 0; Violet Lindsay 3-8 2-2 8; Diandra Marquez 5-9 1-2 15; Keisha Harris 4-5 0-0 10; Emelda Chew 4-6 1-1 9; Ossierra Monroe 1-10 5-8 7; Tammie Thornton 0-5 4-4 4; Tamika Johnson 2-10 1-2 5. Totals 26-71 20-26 79. 

Halftime - Odessa College 37, Western Texas College 10. 3-Point goals - WTC 3-7 (Price 0-1, Clabaugh 1-4, Christie 2-2); OC 7-15 (Mbiandja 0-1, Redmond 1-1, Joe 0-3, Lindsay 0-3, Marquez 4-5, Harris 2-2). Total fouls - WTC 21, OC 16. Fouled out - OC, Tabala. Technical fouls - None. Rebounds -WTC 49 (Sanchez 8); OC 54 (Tabala 8). Assists - WTC 6 (Guthrie 3); OC 11 (Redmond 4).