Seward Steamrolls Texans to Advance to Elite Eight

The marquee matchup of the second round of the NJCAA National Tournament Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas came between #4 Seward County and #6 South Plains.  The Lady Saints got off to a slow start, but quickly rebounded, taking a four point lead into the locker room at half before blowing things open in the second half for an 87-69 win to advance to the tournament's quarterfinal round. 

It was the tale of two teams as Seward went into Tuesday's without having played for 13 days while South Plains took the floor for the second time in 24 hours.  The Lady Saints were rusty early, failing to score in the first three minutes of the game and South Plains the opposite as the Lady Texans jumped out to a 7-0 lead after less than a minute of action.  Erin Richardson finally got Seward on the board 3:15 into things and Vanessa Caro came off the bench with a triple to get the Lady Saints back to within three at 9-6.  Seward continued to use the long ball as their weapon of choice and worked their way back into the game, cutting the Lady Texan lead to just one at 17-16 after one quarter of action. 

The Lady Saints wasted no time in taking their first lead of the game as the second quarter began, getting the ball inside to Joanna Grymek on their first possession of the period for an easy two inside to take an 18-17 lead.  A three by Brennyn Seagler and then another from Neidy Ocuane stretched the Seward lead to 28-24 midway through the quarter.  The two heavyweight contenders continued to throw blows at each other as South Plains scored five straight to take the lead back by one before a pair of Mollie Mounsey threes for Seward gave them the 36-34 nod with 2:38 to go in the half.  A quick push by Seward gave the Lady Saints their largest lead of the half at 44-37, but five Texan points in a nine second span made it a two point game in the blink of an eye.  Mounsey scored on a runout in transition to end the half, giving the Lady Saints a 46-42 advantage into the break at half. 

Seward shot 44% overall from the field in the first half while hitting on 44% from downtown as well.  The Lady Saints cashed 10 threes in the first 20 minutes, six of those coming from Mounsey and Ocuane who had 16 and 10 points respectively in the half. 

The Lady Saints came out ready to go in the second half, quickly putting up the first four points to extend their lead to eight.  Seward took their first double digit lead of the game with a three from Mounsey midway through the third and continued to push, getting a late bucket from Manuela Fungate on a putback to make it 69-54 as the teams headed to the fourth. 

Another three from Richardson early in the fourth gave Seward their biggest lead of the night at 72-54 and the Lady Saints continued to lead big after a Grymek putback midway through the quarter as they remained on top of the Texans 78-61. South Plains cut the Seward lead down to 13 before the Lady Saints first timeout of the game with 3:51 to go, but the gals in green only allowed the Texans one more hoop down the stretch, finishing off am 87-69 win for their third top 10 win of the season. 

Seward finished the night shooting 44% overall and 41% from three while holding South Plains to just 33% shooting in the second half and 37% overall in the game.  Mounsey finished with 26 for the Lady Saints while Ocuane pitched in 21.  Grymek notched her ninth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds including seven on the offensive end. 

The Lady Saints improve to 32-2 on the season while South Plains sees their season come to an end at 28-6. 

Seward advances to the National Quarterfinals on Thursday where they will take on top seeded and defending National Champions Gulf Coast at 1:00 after the Commodores shook off a slow start to blow out Harford in the early game Tuesday. 

#4 SEWARD COUNTY/#6 SOUTH PLAINS BOX SCORE