MIDLAND, Texas. – The No. 10 Seward County women’s basketball team came away with their third win over a ranked opponent in the young season, defeating No. 20 Northeastern Oklahoma A&M 51-49.

Seward County (6-1) struggled out of the gates, as NEO went on a 9-2 run over the first five minutes. Still trailing by seven with four minutes left, Sidney Tinner connected on a jump shot to kickstart a 10-4 run over the remainder of the quarter.  Despite their slow start, Seward finished strong to trail by just one point entering the second quarter, 18-17.

After tying the game a minute into the second quarter, the Lady Saints went on a four minute scoring drought. Their defense kept them in the game, however, allowing just four points from NEO.  A three pointer by Aquila Mucubaquire, followed by a pair of Vonda Cuamba free throws, gave Seward their first lead of the game with three minutes to play.  Seward went into the break with a two-point halftime lead, 27-25.

The Lady Saints kept their defensive pressure going to start the third, preventing NEO from retaking the lead, while their offense slowly extended it. Seward shot 50 percent from the field in the third quarter with Silvia Veloso and Carla Covane scoring five points each.  The Seward lead was extended to five by the ended of the quarter with a Taelor Parker three pointer at the buzzer to lead 42-37.

Seward pushed their lead to nine with just under seven minutes to play in the game but couldn’t find the basket for the remainder of the game, scoring just two points off free throws the remainder of the game.  NEO cut the lead to one point at 50-49 with 18 seconds left with a tip-in.  A NEO foul sent Karolina Szydlowska to the free-throw line, where she hit one to give the Lady Saints a two-point lead. One final shot at the buzzer gave NEO a chance to tie it, but it missed the mark, giving Seward the lead 51-49.

Seward shot just 28.1 percent (16-of-57) from the floor and 20 percent (5-of-25) from deep but held NEO to 30.4 percent (17-of-56) from the field and only 11.8 percent (2-of-17) from behind the arc.

The Lady Saints had to use a complete team effort on offense to come away with the win as nine players scored, led by Mucubaquire and Parker with eight points each.

Seward will get the next ten days off before returning to action to start Jayhawk league play at Butler on Wednesday, November 28^that 6:30 p.m. in the Power Plant.