T-Birds (WBB) Upsets No. 1 SPC, Graves Ties Scoring Record

Jada Graves had arguably the best night in NMJC women's basketball history in the Thunderbirds 81-74 win over No. 1 ranked South Plains College on Monday, Jan. 19.

The sophomore guard tied the school record in points with 41 on 50% shooting. Natalie Santos shares the school record with Graves scoring 41 points against South Plains on Nov. 20, 2008. 

"Jada has been our leader all year. On Monday she came in with a refuse to lose attitude and made sure she did whatever it took for us to win," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "It was probably the best single game effort I had been part of. She dominated the game from start to finish. People question her size all the time, but she showed once again on Monday, she is a 6-0 guard in a smaller body."    

Graves accounted for 50.6% of the team's buckets in the seven-point win over the Texans. The Amarillo, Texas native also registered seven rebounds, three steals, and went 12-of-16 from the charity stripe in the upset win.      

NMJC finished the first quarter in a stalemate with the T-Birds and Texans tied at 21 apiece. Graves scored 13 of her 41 in the first quarter. The second quarter is where the Thunderbirds built their lead outscoring SPC 20-9 in the frame. Graves finished the first half with 24 points as NMJC led 41-30 at the break. 

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kaycee Steinke pushed the T-Bird lead to 53-41 at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter. SPC closed the gap the rest of the third going on a 9-2 run to make the score 55-50 T-Birds.

South Plains deficit held at five points, 75-70, with a little over a minute to play. NMJC went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe the rest of the way to win 81-74 and upset the No. 1 team in the country.    

Kaycee Steinke was the second-leading scorer behind Graves with 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc. 

Sophomore guard Zarai Lewis was the third T-Bird in double figures recording 10 points and four rebounds. Forward Addison Edwards led the squad in the paint grabbing 10 rebounds. 

The Thunderbirds shot 29-for-59 (49.2%) from the field, 5-of-15 (33.3%) from the 3-point line, and 18-of-25 (72%) from the free throw line. The T-Birds held the South Plains to 36% from the field and forced 15 turnovers.

"It's always fun to play South Plains, they are so well coached," Coach Mefford said. "Coming off a loss there last season and back-to-back losses it created a must win feel to be able to have a chance to repeat as WJCAC Champs. I'm proud of how our team responded to the challenge. We went in expecting to win. I felt we had a great game plan to play them zone that they haven't seen a lot of this season and our players bought in and executed what we wanted to do. Proud of the response and how it can help us regain some confidence for the rest of WJCAC play." 

The No. 13 Thunderbirds jump to 15-3 (2-2) on the year and will face Midland College in Hobbs, NM Thursday, Jan. 22 at 5:45 p.m. MST.