Lady Hawks drop game to Frank Phillips
The Howard College Lady Hawks played their first game of the new year and it showed. Howard has been slowed by Covid protocol, finally got all of its squad back together. The time away was evident as the Lady Hawks fought gamely but just couldn't find the right gears to get past Frank Phillps, dropping a 58-49 decision to the Lady Plainsmen Monday night.
It was only Howard's second conference game it actually played. It had to forfeit two other games because of not enough players.
On the other hand Frank Phillips was playing with a depleted squad, it suited up only six players. It ll worked out for them as the Lady Plainsmen used a dominating rebounding performance mixed with poor Howard shooting to get the win.
"It's a mixture of injuries and kids being sick,." said Frank Phillips coach Brent Schneider. "We've had three starters'. out with ACL injuries. We're down to seven players, one of them is sick."
Frank Phillips outrebounded Howard 41-24 in the contest. Freshman forward Elise Turrubiates led the Frank Phillips rebounding barrage with 14 . Turrubiates was a member of the Hobbs, NM squads that won two state titles. She got ample help from Malikiya Thomas with 10 rebounds to go along with 11 points.
The game was close throughout. Behind 12 first half points from Kaeona Marquez Howard led 28-27 at the break. Marquez was instrumental in keeping Howard in contention. She finished with a game-high 24 points and was the only Lady Hawk to shoot the ball well, making 9 of 15 shots from the floor, 6-off-11 from three point land. Jasmine Elder showed some offensive life with six of her eight points coming in the second half.
Howard led one time in the second half, 30-29, on a driving basket by Kiara Green. After that T'Aaliyah Miner took over for Frank Phillips. She finished the night with 19 points and eight rebounds. Howard hung tough, got the lead down to 54-49 with 3:43 left in the contest, but couldn't score the rest of the game.
Howard coach John ishee put it bluntly. Day. "You're not going to win when you shoot 20 percent. Daysha (Tijerina), our best shooter goes 2-for-10 from the three point line. She's 44 percent shooter. We missed some easy looks inside. Our timing, rhythm and conditioning just not the same. They'll be better days ahead. We got New Mexico Jiour College coming in Monday. They're No. 8 in the country."
Game time is 5:45 p.m.
FRANK PHILLIPS (10-9, 1-3) - Linda Brice 3 3 10; T'Aaliyah Miner 6 6 19; Aisja Strachan 3 0 7; Malikiya Thoomas 5 1 11; Edna Langa 1 0 2; totals 22-62, 10-14 58.
\HOWARD (7-10, 0-4 ) Kiara Green 1 0 2; Kaeona Marquez 9 0 24; Dysha Tijerina 2 0 6; Jasmine Elder 3 2 8; Daniela Perdomo 2 1 7; Charnay Robinson 1 0 2;; totals 18-63, 3-5 49.
.Frank Phillips - 19-08-19-12 - 58
Howard 13-15-09-12 - 49
Turnovers - FP - 19, Howard 18; Three Pointers - FP (Brice 1, Miner, Thomas 1); Howard (Marquez 6, Tijerina 2); Rebounds - Frank Phillips 41 (Turrubiates 14, Thoms 10, Miner 8); Howard 24 (Marquez 7, Elder 5.); Assists - FP (Brice 3); Howard (Green 8); Steals - FP - Turrubiates 3)' Howard (Tijerina 3); Blocked Shots - FP (Miner 1); Howard (Perdomo 2)