Nov. 22—There weren’t many negatives to take away from the Odessa College women’s basketball team’s 75-40 win against Hill College Friday at the Chaparral Center in Midland.
Playing in the Midland College WNIT Classic, the No. 14-ranked Lady Wranglers improved to 6-1 while Hill College fell to 2-5.
“We have to get better,” Odessa College head coach Franqua Bedell said. “We have some little things that we need to improve on and we have some players that need to get healthy. We still have to figure some things out, offensively and defensively. You can’t turn the ball over 26 times. We have to improve on a lot of things.”
Odessa College was led in scoring by Arminda Joaquim’s 21 points while Caitlin Staley had 14 points and Juliet Esomchukwu had 12. Aisha Amaral dos Santos had 10 points as well.
“(Arminda) had a good game,” Bedell said. “She did a good job of attacking and making things easy for us. She did a good job of getting points.”
The Lady Wranglers went 29-of-60 on field goals and 9-of-21 on 3-pointers while going 8-of-14 from the line.
Hill College was led in scoring by Jordyn Crawford’s 15 points. She was the only Lady Rebel to score in double figures.
Hill College went 14-of-54 on field goals and 2-of-17 on 3-pointers while finishing 10-of-22 on free throws.
The Lady Rebels had 24 turnovers.
Odessa College began the game on an 11-2 run.
The Lady Wranglers’ lead was 26-6 at the end of the first quarter.
“We played more like I wanted us to in the first quarter,” Bedell said. “We were consistent and didn’t make mistakes. But we have to do a better job of being more consistent.”
Odessa College continued its momentum in the second quarter, building a 30-11 lead with 6:43 left.
Jaedyn Cook sunk two free throws to give the Lady Wranglers a 34-13 advantage and soon after, Aisha Amaral dos Santos scored on a transition layup.
It wasn’t long before Odessa College had a 38-18 lead late in the quarter.
Hill College made a free threw before halftime as the Lady Wranglers remained in front.
The Lady Rebels began the second half on a better note, going on a 7-4 run.
A basket by Staley gave the Lady Wranglers a 49-26 lead with 5:11 left in the third quarter.
Odessa College’s lead was 55-30 at the end of the quarter.
Arminda Joaquim scored on a transition layup to make it 60-30 with 9:20 remaining.
Joaquim added another basket just seconds later as Odessa College wasn’t to be denied.
Pa’Shawna Wheeler scored from 3-point land to make it 65-30 with 8:05 left.
Odessa College used a 6-2 run to keep its foot on the gas pedal.
Staley’s inside basket made it 73-35 with 4:09 left.
Odessa College will next face No. 11-ranked Kilgore College at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Chaparral Center to finish up the tournament.
“They’re really good,” Bedell said. “Head coach Stephanie Williams does a good job with them. They’re really athletic so we have to be ready for them.”
