Gulf Coast Ends Seward’s Season

For a second consecutive season, the Seward Lady Saints lost to Gulf Coast State in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Tournament. Thursday afternoon, the Lady Commodores ended Seward’s stellar season with a 79-65 victory at the Rip Griffin Center at Lubbock Christian University.

The Lady Saints led at halftime 29-28 after trailing 17-14 after one quarter. But Gulf Coast owned the third quarter 28-14. The Lady Commodores led by as many as 16 with 7:33 to play.

The biggest difference in the game was on the glass as Gulf Coast led 49-33 in rebounding. They had 16 offensive rebounds. The Lady Saints, who lead the nation in three point shooting, were 9-31 from three. SCCC shot just 36 percent while the Lady Commodores hit 41 percent of their shots and were 10-24 from three point range. Seward committed 21 fouls and Gulf Coast fouled 10 times. The Lady Saints were 10-13 from the foul line and Gulf Coast was 13-19.

Gulf Coast held Seward’s Mollie Mounsey in check as she scored 11 points and nine rebounds on 3-13 shooting. She finishes second all time in scoring at SCCC trailing Tegan Cunningham by eight. Silvia Veloso led the Lady Saints with 15. For Gulf Coast, North Carolina signees Shayla Bennett had 28 and Jhileiha Dunlap had 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Seward finishes 31-4 and Gulf Coast, who has won the past two NJCAA titles, advances to the semifinals and is 28-2.

Seward’s sophomores Mounsey, Brennyn Seagler, Valerie Caro, and Vanessa Caro finish 63-7 in two years with two Jayhawk titles, one Region 6 championship, two wins at the NJCAA Tournament, and two elite 8 finishes.