Blackmon's 31 Leads SPC Women Over Howard

BELTON – Brittany Blackmon had 31 points and 11 rebounds to send South Plains College into Sunday’s NJCAA Region V Championship game as the Lady Texans defeated Howard College 69-62 in Saturday’s semifinal at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.

Howard led the entire first half and were up 24-11 with 5:03 remaining before halftime. South Plains didn’t take their first lead until Rachel Gray hit a 3-pointer at the 14:57 mark of the second half to put the Lady Texans ahead 35-35. The lead exchanged hands seven times after that. The game was tied 62-62 with 52 seconds remaining, but Ashley Frazier sank a 3-pointer from the wing to put SPC ahead for good. Mariame Djouara and Blackmon added layups in the final 30 seconds for the final margin.

In addition to Blackmon’s 31 points, Haruka Nagado came off the bench to score 11, Djouara added 8, Chasity Workman had 7, Krystal Davis scored 5, Gray had 3, and Frazier added 3.

For Howard, Monica Jones scored 16.

BOX SCORE