The Seward Lady Saints won their opening round game at the NJCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in Lubbock Tuesday night. Seward beat the South Georgia Tech Lady Jets 88-81. The Lady Saints advance to the round of eight at the tournament in the Rip Griffin Center at Lubbock Christian.

South Georgia Tech led 20-19 after one quarter. SCCC outscored South Georgia Tech 33-20 in the second quarter. Seward led 52-40 at halftime.  The Lady Jets out paced Seward 27-20 in the third quarter and trailed SCCC 72-67.  South Georgia Tech cane all the way back to lead 81-79 with 1:54 to play. That’s when Sylvia Veloso swiped the ball from the Lady Jets after a rebound. She scored and was fouled to give Seward the 82-81 lead. Seward finished the game on a 9-0 run.

Both teams shot 47 percent from the field. The Lady Saints were 17-34 from three point range while the Lady Jets were 2-14. But South Georgia Tech had a huge advantage from the foul line going 23-26 while Seward was 11-12.

Mollie Mounsey led the gals in green with 24 points on 8-15 shooting and 6-11 from three point range. Carla Covane scored a career high 13. Silvia Veloso turned in another dazzling line of 10 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and five steals.

The Lady Saints are now 8-0 when playing their first game of an NJCAA tournament. They are 31-3 and South Georgia Tech finishes 29-6.

Seward faces defending NJCAA champ Gulf Coast Thursday at 3 in Lubbock. The game airs on 107.5 and kscbnews.net.