Lady Saints Drop First Game of Season

MIDLAND, Texas – The No. 10 Seward County women's basketball team dropped their first game of the season Thursday evening, falling to No. 17 Salt Lake in the opening round of the Midland WNIT 64-57.

Seward struggled to get going early, connecting on just 2-of-11 (18.2%) from the floor and just 1-of-5 (20.0%) from deep. Karolina Szydlowska drilled a three two minutes into the game to give Seward a 3-2 lead, but a five-minute scoring drought put Seward in an 8-3 hole. They would score just two more baskets over the remaining three minutes as they trailed 14-7 after the first quarter.

The Lady Saints' struggle continued into the second quarter. Seward couldn't make up any ground until late in the quarter. Trailing 22-14 with two minutes left in the half, Vonda Cuamba jumpstarted a 7-0 run for the Lady Saints with a tip. Lexi Hernandez connected on an and-one attempt to put Seward within one-point heading into halftime, 22-21.

Seward took the lead in the third quarter with a pair of Cuamba free throws. Moments later, Szydlowska made another free throw to put Seward up four points, the largest lead that the Lady Saints would hold in the game. The Bruins battled back to tie the game and eventually took the lead with thirty seconds left in the quarter to make it 39-37.

The Lady Saints managed to retake the lead two minutes into the fourth quarter with free throws from Carla Covane and Aquila Mucubaquire. Still leading by two at 43-41, the Bruins went on a 5-0 run to retake the lead. The Bruins continued to push their advantage going up double-digits at 61-51.  Seward trimmed the lead to seven with a three pointer at the buzzer, but still lost, 64-57.

After a rough first quarter, the Lady Saints increased their shooting percentage to .373 (19-51) by the end of the game, but still shot below thirty percent on the day behind the arc (5-17).  Salt Lake shot 40.4 percent (23-57) from the floor and 28.6 percent (4-14) from deep.

Three Lady Saints reached double-figures – Karolina Szydlowska (12 pts), Vonda Cuamba (12 pts) and Lexi Hernandez (10 pts).

Seward will play either Odessa or Iowa Western tomorrow (Nov. 16) at 1:00 pm in the consolation bracket of the WNIT.