No. 5 Lady Cards open with 87-66 win

Thursday, November 05, 2009

The fifth-ranked Lady Cardinals tipped off the season with a win Wednesday night.

The Bill Damuth head coaching tenure at Trinity Valley Community College is off to a successful start.

The No. 5-ranked Lady Cardinals led from start to finish in an 87-66 win over Hill College in their season opener Wednesday night at the Bob Bullock Sports Center in Hillsboro, making Damuth a winner in his debut after eight years as an assistant coach at the college.

The game was anything but a work of basketball art. The two teams combined to turn the ball over 58 times, were whistled for 58 fouls and attempting 84 free throws, making 57.

TVCC jumped out to an 8-0 lead and was up 14-2 six minutes into the game. The Lady Cardinals stretched the advantage to 27-8 before the Lady Rebels staged a mini-rally to get within 39-25 at the half.

Hill, which fell to 1-1, was 10-of-15 from the free throw line in the first half. TVCC was 10-of-20.

Gloria Brown hit the first five points of the second half for the Lady Cardinals, enabling them to pull away for a 46-25 lead in less than three minutes.

 But turnovers and fouls prevented TVC from turning the game into a runaway, and with 12:15 left in the game, Casey Farhat raced in for a layup to bring the Lady Rebels within 14, 55-41.

Tawanna Lee poured in back-to-back three pointers for the Lady Cardinals with just under five minutes left, which seemed to take the wind out of the Lady Rebels’ sails.

Jenea Barrett paced the Lady Cardinal scoring with 20 points. McMillan had 16, Lee 15 and Brown 12.

Vicoria Felix led Hill with 12 points. Jessica Lyons and Barbara Alvarado added 11 each.

Hill turned the ball over 32 times. The Lady Cardinals had 26 turnovers.

The Lady Rebels were 28-of-29 from the free throw line. TVCC was 29-of-45.

The Lady Cardinals are scheduled to host the TVCC Classic Friday and Saturday. TVCC plays Neosho Community College at 7 p.m. Friday and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College at 3 p.m. Saturday. Panola College is also participating in the event, playing NEO at 5 p.m. Friday and Neosho at 1 p.m. Saturday.

LADY CARDINALS 87, LADY REBELS 66

TVCC (87) – Michelle White 8; Tawanna Lee 15; Jenea Barrett 20; Gloria Brown 12; Marcisa McMillan 16; Mechel’le Thomas 7; Marlianne Louzeiro 3; Brittney Dukes 3; Lesha Dunn 2; Tarjay Ashmeade 1

HILL (66) – Jessica Lyons 11; Asia Rhines-Malone 5;  Barbara Alvarado 11; Vicoria Felix 12; Casey Farhat 8; Nicole Blackmon 2; Dazarae Matthews 5; Jasmine White 5; Ronette Smith 7

Three-Pointers: TVCC 6-16 – Barrett (2), McMillan (2), Lee (2). Hill

Halftime Score: TVCC 39, Hill 29

Turnovers: TVCC 26. Hill 32

Free Throws: TVCC 29-45 (McMillian 6-6). Hill 28-39 (Lyons 7-8)

Team Fouls: TVCC 30. Hill 28

Fouled Out: TVCC-none. Hill 1 (Hopkins)

Technical Fouls: TVCC-none. Hill 1 (bench)

Season Records: TVCC 1-0. Hill 1-1

Estimated Attendance: 125