WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Lady Wranglers salute sophomores

If only every game could be sophomore night for the Odessa College women’s basketball night.

After struggling throughout the season at the start of both halves, the Lady Wranglers built a double-digit lead in the first four minutes against Howard College and never let the Lady Hawks back in the game.

Odessa College coach Ara Baten said his team didn’t do anything different before Monday’s game. Instead, freshmen Angenay Williams and Lauren Cotton-Berry both said they were motivated to send Meagan Bell, J’Tierra Brown, Tara Cioccia and Schuyler Carter off with a win in their final game at the OC Sports Center.

“I think we were all coming together for our sophomores,” Cotton-Berry said. 

The result was a 75-59 victory for Odessa College that snapped a two-game losing streak and locked up a berth in the Region V tournament.

PHOTO GALLERY: Odessa College vs. Howard College

“That’s probably the best at least we’ve started a game, really both halves, in a very long time, maybe at all,” Baten said. “Players were ready to play.”

The Lady Wranglers raced out to a 12-2 lead and all but one of those baskets came in transition. Jamie Drummer turned a pair of steals into layups at the other end and Williams had a pair of transition baskets, too.

“A lot of teams say that transition is in important. You know, you hear that from a lot of teams,” Cotton-Berry said. “With our team, honestly, transition is what we’re best at. We run. Coach makes sure we can run. We have a lot of great runners on the team.”

Baten has said that forcing turnovers and scoring in transition would relieve pressure on the half-court offense and that’s exactly what appeared to happen as the Wranglers led 43-29 at the half behind a balanced attack. Williams scored nine points in the first half while both Jamie Drummer and Caroline Adesulu contributed eight.

“If we’re all running, which we’re all good at, everybody will get involved,” said Williams, who finished with 11 points. “If everybody gets involved, everybody’s happy and everybody’s more motivated to play D.”

It was a far cry from some of Odessa College’s previous conference homes wins. The Lady Wranglers fell behind 9-0 against Western Texas College on Jan. 30 and Frank Phillips College led the Lady Wranglers 22-15 at the half on Feb. 9.

In its last game, Odessa College was up 27-23 after 20 minutes at New Mexico Junior College. The Lady Thunderbirds started the second half on a 16-4 run and went on to win 71-63.

Cotton-Berry made sure that didn’t happen by scoring 13 of her game-high 16 points after the break. It was her first time in double figures since the victory over the Lady Hawks on Jan. 27 in Big Spring.

“I’ve been having off games and then I was sick not that long ago so that didn’t help,” Cotton-Berry said, “but (my teammates were) dribble penetrating, kicking the ball out, helping me get open by having more pressure on the outside than the inside.”

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>> Odessa College 75,  Howard College 59

HOWARD COLLEGE (16-11 overall, 2-7 WJCAC)

Porsche Young 3 2-2 10, Kali Jerrell 3 2-2 8, Katlin Luscombe 0 0-0 0, Tori Tucker 1 0-0 2, Zeslie Johnson 5 4-4 14, Kelli Merrick 2 6-6 10, Marion Lemonnier 0 2-2 2, Carolyn Taylor 4 0-0 8, Brushea Daniels 0 1-4 1, Ja’Keyma Williams 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 17-20 59

ODESSA COLLEGE (18-8, 7-3)

Jessica Lofton-Williams 0 0-0 0, Chanell Lockhart 4 1-2 9, Kristyn Wilson 0 0-0 0, Meagan Bell 2 0-0 6, Tina Bozicek 3 0-0 8, J’Tierra Brown 2 1-1 5, Angenay Williams 4 3-4 11, Jamie Drummer 5 0-0 10, Lauren Cotton-Berry 6 4-9 16, Tara Cioccia 0 0-0 0, Caroline Adesulu 5 0-1 10, Schuyler Carter 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 9-17 75.

Halftime — Odessa College 43, Howard College 29. 3-Point goals — Howard College 2 (Young 2), Odessa College 4 (Bell 2, Bozicek 2). Total fouls — Howard College 11, Odessa College 15. Technical fouls — None.