Lady Saints Use Hot Start to Down #23 Odessa

Facing their toughest test to date in the 2015 season, the #8 Seward County Lady Saints passed with flying colors Friday night in Midland, Texas, downing #23 Odessa 57-45 to improve to 5-0 on the year. 

Imploring a complicated triangle and two defense, the Lady Saints stifled the Wranglers early on, holding Odessa without a single point for the first seven plus minutes of the game.  In the meantime, Seward used an offensive onslaught of their own to blaze out to a 17-0 lead on the Wranglers, eventually holding a 17-5 lead after one quarter of play.

The Lady Saints remained consistent offensively in the second quarter, but the Wranglers began to find their stride as well.  Seward outscored Odessa 16-14 in the period to take a comfortable 33-19 lead into the locker rooms at half.  Seward shot an even 50% in the first half while holding Odessa to just eight field goals in the half as the Wranglers managed to shoot only 25% in the first 20 minutes of action. 

Odessa made  a few successful changes as expected at the half as the Wranglers cut into the Seward lead in the third quarter.  As the Lady Saints went cold in the period, Odessa made it a 43-36 game heading to the fourth. 

With the game on the line, the Lady Saints locked down again on the defensive end in the fourth quarter.  With Odessa desperately vying for a comeback, Seward allowed the Wranglers to score only nine points in the quarter while salting the game away on their end of the floor before eventually walking off the court with a 57-45 victory. 

The Lady Saints finished the contest shooting 45% overall while allowing the Wranglers to shoot just 26% in the contest.  Seward outrebounded Odessa 48-29 on the night, but did commit 26 turnovers, leading to 26 of the Wranglers 45 points in the game. 

Daniela Galindo and Joanna Grymek led the Lady Saints offensively, Galindo backing up a 50 point performance one week ago with 19 Friday night while Grymek scored a career high 18 on 9 of 13 from the field.  Axelle Bernard shook off a tough game shooting to contribute a game high 13 rebounds, marking her fifth straight double digit rebounding effort to start the season. 

The win improves Seward to 5-0 on the year while Odessa falls for the first time in 2015, dropping to 5-1. 

The Lady Saints will be back in action on Saturday when they take on #20 Midland to wrap up their trip to the Lone Star State. 

#8 SEWARD COUNTY/#23 ODESSA BOX SCORE