WOLFFORTH — The South Plains College men didn’t beat Odessa College all season — not until the Texans really needed to, at least.
Standout guard Kieves Turner poured in 31 points and South Plains upended eighth-ranked Odessa 87-83 in Saturday’s finals of the NJCAA Region V tournament, taking any guesswork out of whether they can make the NJCAA Tournament field.
South Plains (20-11) claimed the automatic berth to the national tournament March 14-19 in Hutchinson, Kansas. In doing so, the Texans ended the Wranglers’ 19-game win streak.
Odessa (27-6) won the Western Junior College Athletic Conference regular-season championship by five games, beating South Plains twice on the way to sweeping through the 16-game conference schedule undefeated.
On Saturday, Turner went off again. The 6-foot-1 sophomore from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, had a school-record 50-point game in the regular-season finale against Midland College and had three 30-point-plus games in January.
Jaden Harris scored 12 points for the Texans. Eric Coleman, Malek Abdelgowad and Savion Gallion added 11 apiece.
Dontrell Hewlett and Anthony Marshall scored 14 and 13, respectively, for Odessa.
WOLFFORTH — Raija Todd scored 23 points and South Plains College beat Clarendon College 64-54 Saturday in the championship game of the women’s NJCAA basketball tournament at Frenship.
Celia Sumbane added 19 points for South Plains (20-8), which earned an automatic bid to the NJCAA Tournament from March 16-21 at the Rip Griffin Center. The Lady Texans will go in on a six-game win streak.
Mah Minthe scored 17 points for Clarendon (24-9), and Aileen Marquez added 14.
FRISCO — Jacob Majors hit a 3-point goal with six seconds left to help Texas A&M-Kingsville upset top-seeded Lubbock Christian University in the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference tournament at the Comerica Center.
The 12th-seeded Javelinas led by as many 17 points in the first half but watched the Chaps roar back and grab the lead in the final 15 seconds on a layup by Lloyd Daniels.
After a timeout, the Javelinas drew up a play to get Majors a look in the corner and he made the shot to put A&M-Kingsville up 70-69.
The Chaps subsequently tried to rush down the floor, but Majors ended up getting the ball on a steal. After an intentional foul and two free throws by Kingsville, the Javelinas were able to run out the final seconds.
Daniels led LCU (26-3) with 19 points and Aamer Muhammad scored 16 – all in the second half. Mackenzie had 14 points and LSC Player of the Year Parker Hicks had 10 points and eight rebounds.
TAMUK (18-9) will play West Texas A&M (27-6) at 1 p.m. Sunday for the championship and a berth in the upcoming Division II NCAA Tournament.
Saturday was the third win of the tournament for the Javelinas, the lowest seed in an LSC tournament to reach the finals. This is just the second year LSC has had a 12-team field.
FRISCO — Juliana Robertson racked up 20 points, 12 rebounds and four steals, leading No. 5 seed Lubbock Christian University over No. 4 seed Angelo State in a Lone Star Conference tournament quarterfinal Friday night at the Comerica Center.
The point total was the second-highest of the season for Robertson, a 5-foot-10 senior from Kerrville Tivy. It was her seventh game this season with double-digit rebounds.
Laynee Burr had 17 points and four assists as the Lady Chaparrals won their sixth game in a row, and Channing Cunyus chipped in eight points.
LCU (26-5) advanced to a Saturday night semifinal against No. 1 seed West Texas A&M (21-10), which beat Texas A&M International 75-56.
West Texas A&M was the last team to beat LCU, downing the Lady Chaps 55-48 on Feb. 10 in Canyon.
Tayjanna McGhee-Pleasant led Angelo State (15-13) with 19 points. Roosevelt graduate Payton Brown was next with 14, and Blakely Gerber added eight. All three played for Wayland Baptist last season and followed coach Alesha Ellis from Wayland to Angelo State.
at the Tiger Pit, Wolfforth
Note: Seeds, records in parentheses. An “N” designates teams from the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference. A “W” designates teams from the Western Junior College Athletic Conference.
Friday’s Semifinals
WOMEN
Clarendon College 80, Midland College 71
South Plains College 68, New Mexico Junior College 52
MEN
South Plains 78, New Mexico Military Institute 67
Odessa 75, New Mexico JC 69
Saturday’s Championships
WOMEN
South Plains 64, Clarendon 54
MEN
South Plains 87, Odessa 83
———
Note: Seeds, records in parentheses.
MEN
at Comerica Center, Frisco
Thursday’s Quarterfinals
Midwestern State 82, Dallas Baptist 66
West Texas A&M 83, Angelo State 73
Lubbock Christian University 58, St. Edward’s 56
Texas A&M-Kingsville 70, St. Mary’s 64
Saturday’s Semifinals
West Texas A&M 87, Midwestern State 55
Texas A&M-Kingsville 72, LCU 69
Sunday’s Championship
West Texas A&M (2) (27-6) vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville (12) (18-9), 1 p.m.
WOMEN
at Comerica Center, Frisco
Friday’s Quarterfinals
Texas A&M-Commerce 80, Cameron 65
UT Tyler 59, Texas Woman’s 46
West Texas A&M 75, Texas A&M International 56
Lubbock Christian University 60, Angelo State 51
Saturday’s Semifinals
West Texas A&M (1) (21-10) vs. LCU (5) (26-5), 6 p.m.
Texas A&M-Commerce (3) (25-3) vs. UT Tyler (7) (19-8), 8:30 p.m.
Sunday’s Championship
WT-LCU winner vs. Texas A&M-Commerce/UT Tyler winner, 3:30 p.m.
