Not even Penn and Teller would have believed this disappearing act.
Leading by eight points midway through the third quarter, the Odessa College women’s basketball team was run off its own court as Howard College roared back for a 76-64 victory Thursday at the OC Sports Center.
The Lady Wranglers led 50-42 with 5:18 remaining in the third quarter and seemingly were in control of the regular-season finale.
But they began to turn the ball over on consecutive trips down the court and the Lady Hawks made them pay.
Odessa College (16-9 overall, 9-5 in WJCAC) didn’t score the rest of the third quarter and had just two points in the first 4:32 of the fourth quarter.
Howard College (15-14, 6-8) went on a 24-2 run during that span to break the game open.
Ann Mary Zachariah scored a game-high 22 points to lead Howard College, with Malgorzata Byczkowska adding 21 and Kaeona Marquez 12 to the victory.
Nahawa Diarra Berthe scored 17 points to lead Odessa College, with Isamery Agramonte adding 13 and Ivana Krajina 10 in the loss.
The Lady Wranglers’ finish mirrored their effort in the opening 10 minutes.
It was a sluggish opening quarter for the Lady Wranglers, who changed things up with their starting lineup to showcase five sophomores playing their final game at the OC Sports Center.
The Lady Hawks took advantage of Odessa College’s early-game struggles to open a seven-point lead (14-7) with less than four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
It wasn’t until the 4:35 mark of the second quarter that the Lady Wranglers took their first lead (24-23) of the game on Chelsy Bautista’s put back after an offensive rebound.
That sparked a 13-5 run by Odessa College, but the Lady Hawks scratched their way back into the mix, pulling with two, 37-35, with 38 seconds remaining in the first half.
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
