Lady Chaps defeat lady Wranglers, 83-77

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Posted: 2/5/10

By Tatum Guinn
EP Staff Reporter

Midland College's Lady Chaps defeated rivals Odessa College Lady Wranglers 83-77 in a heated match up Monday, Feb. 1.

The Wranglers seemed to have a hold on the game in the first half never letting MC out score them. Going into half time, the Wranglers were up 39-35.

The Lady Chaps came back in the second half ready to play some ball. Both team's defenses were hard at work, as well as the offense. They stayed within a point or two of each other the entire game.

One advantage the Wranglers had over MC was their rebounding. OC out-rebounded MC 58-45.

Sophomore Erika Warren led the Lady Chaps with a game high of 28 points.

"Warren made some big shots for us and made some big plays," said MC Coach Ron Jones in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

MC was victorious in the last few minutes of the game with a layup by Warren and a 3 for 4 free-throw shots by Warren and Lauren Mansfield.

On Jan. 28, the Lady Chaps made the relatively short trip to Snyder, Texas, to take on the Westerners and shut them down with a 71-48 victory.

The No. 12-ranked Lady Chaps went into half time with a 33-18 lead. Jones said he was proud of how the defense played in the first half.

Mansfield led MC with 18 points, followed by Brittany Wilson with 12.

The Lady Chaps defeated rival Lady Hawks 52-32 Thursday, Jan. 21, in the Chap Center which was American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

MC's offense was weak, shooting at about 35 percent but they played excellent defense holding the Hawks to only 18 percent shooting.

Jones said in the MRT that he was very happy with the defense and rebounding.

Heather Sheppard led the Lady Chaps with 12 points and nine rebounds. Adrie Shiels and Jessi Cowden each put 10 points up on the score board.

This was an important game for both the Lady Chaps and Lady Hawks. Both teams are in the top 10 in the National Junior College Athletic Association defense statistics. The Lady Chaps proved to be the better team and had the superior defense with the victory over the Lady Hawks.

MC went into halftime with a 20-13 lead. Howard came back into the second half ready to put up a fight, scoring 15 points within the first 30 seconds.

"The Hawks make you play at their tempo," Jones said in the MRT. "They do a great job of using the entire shot clock. I think the fact that we had to grind it out is going to be good for us."

On Jan. 18, the Lady Chaps beat the Lady T-Birds on their home court in Hobbs.

Mansfield and Sheppard led the Lady Chaps. Sheppard had 23 points and 12 rebounds while Mansfield had 10 points and three assists.

MC earned their first victory in Western Junior College Athletic Conference for this season Thursday, Jan. 14, against South Plain College, defeating them 61-46.

Sheppard put 14 points on the score board while Erika Warren had 12 points and Mansfield had 10. MC shot at only 44.6 percent, but finished the game with 21 turnovers.

On Jan. 11, MC traveled to face Frank Phillips College, but lost 61-65.

On Jan. 5, the Lady Chaps defeated Cisco Junior College 59-39 and it was their last performance before beginning WJCAC games.

MC went into half only leading by three points with a 31-28 lead, but they came back in the second half and forced turnovers giving the Lady Chaps plenty of opportunity to score.

Mansfield and Warren each earned MC 13 points.

The Lady Chaps faced and beat Weatherford College on Jan. 4, even with a "foul-plagued" game.

It was hard for both teams to get into any kind of flow with a total of 55 fouls called and 66 free-throw attempts.

Mansfield led MC with 15 points and Patrice Bright had nine.

Jones said it was hard to get a tempo going.

The Lady Chaps kicked of the new year in the SAWBC Classic Jan. 1-2.

MC first faced Paris College and shut their defense down with a 64-36 victory. Unfortunately, the Lady Chaps didn't have the same kind of luck the next day when they played Angelina College and lost 45-56.