No. 5 Seward falls to No. 23 Odessa to conclude WNIT

MIDLAND, Texas – A dismal shooting effort doomed the fifth-ranked Lady Saints basketball team in a 59-34 loss to No. 23 Odessa College on Saturday in the fifth-place game of the Midland College WNIT. Seward fell to 5-2 on the season.

Seward was a miserable 19.7 percent from field on 12-of-26 shooting and had no players score in double digits. Vanda Cuamba had nine points and Aquila Mucubaquire and Tianna Johnson each added seven points to lead the Lady Saints, who also committed 18 turnovers and had 12 shots blocked.

The Lady Saints were held to single digits in every quarter except the second when they outscored the Wranglers, 17-14.

Once again, Seward started the game off slow and trailed 10-2 after one quarter with its only points coming on two Cuamba free throws. The Lady Saints did not hit their first field goal until 8:44 of the second quarter when Kamry Perez knocked in a three-pointer to cut the lead to 11-5.

Seward continued to scrap in the second quarter and whittled the deficit to five at 24-19 when Johnson nailed a three-pointer at the half-time buzzer.

Cuamba and Mucubaquire scored the first four points of the third quarter and Seward was only down by one at 24-23 at the 8:33 mark. Then the bottom fell out and the Lady Saints went ice cold while the Wranglers heated up with a 9-0 burst to hold a 33-23 advantage with 3:48 remaining.

Seward trailed 37-27 after three quarters, but its ice-cold shooting continued and only scored seven points in the final stanza en route to the loss.

The Lady Saints open Jayhawk West Conference play when they host the Butler Grizzles at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at the Greenhouse.