South Plains Women

Lady Texans start fast with new coach

By DAVE WOHLFARTH

Ara Baten’s first year on the job was a rousing success. His show may continue to be a hit in Levelland.

The Lady Texans won 20 games in his debut, captured the Western Junior College Athletic Conference regular season crown, the WJCAC Tournament title and the Region V championship and reached the national Elite Eight. “It was a good year,” Baten said. “It was my first year so there was a transition period, but we picked up steam and played really well in the postseason. We made a run at it.” The Lady Texans lost an early season nonconference tilt at Trinity Valley 72-53, then won six straight until losing a pair of WJCAC road games to Midland and Howard,

Coach Ara Baten each by eight points. South Plains bounced back to win seven straight league games to take the conference championship with a 13-2 record.

The Lady Texans avenged those losses to Howard and Midland by spanking both of them in the conference postseason tourney. A 74-72 squeaker over Weatherford in the Region V finals earned South Plains a berth in the NJCCA Sweet 16 in Lubbock. The fourth-seeded Lady Texans downed Georgia Highlands in their first game but were eliminated by Northwest Florida State 63-54 in the quarterfinals.

“It was a good year. I’m so proud of our kids,” Baten said. “The whole year was difficult, but our kids did a good job of adapting.”

The year was difficult because the regular season didn’t begin until after Jan.1 and there were few nonconference games and no in-season tournaments. WJCAC opponents were played three times. All because of COVID-19 concerns.

The Lady Texans were lucky. They had only one player test

South Plains Lady Texan Roster Name, Ht., Pos., Class, Hometown

Celia Sumbane, 6-1, F, Fr., Maputo, Mozambique Zuzanna Pacak, 5-9, G, Fr., Zgorzelec, Poland Destinee Reyna, 5-4, G, Soph., Afton, Texas Taylor Tadlock, 5-7, G, Fr., Lubbock, Texas Matilda Soderlund, 5-5, G, Fr., Stockholm, Sweden Vitoria Carvalho, 6-2, P, Fr., Rio De Janerio, Brazil Martyna Czescik, 5-11, F, Soph., Warsaw, Poland Viktoria Ivanova, 5-10, F. Soph., Star Zagoro, Bulgaria Raija Todd, 5-7, G, Soph., Cedar Hill, Texas Ewa Kielar, 6-1, P, Soph., Pabianice, Poland Makalah Robinson, 5-6, G, Fr., Cedar Hill, Texas Tania Tamele, 6-1, P, Fr., Maputo, Mozambique Jordan Brown, 5-9, G, Soph., Plainsboro, New Jersey Ashala Moseberry, 5-10, F, Soph., Madison, Wisconsin Petula Ferriera, 6-0, P, Fr., Sao Paulo, Brazil

Jordan Brown

Ashala Moseberry Viktoria Ivanova

Martyna Czescik Ewa Kielar

Denitsa Petrova

positive, and that was during Christmas break. None of their games was postponed.

Baten was named the WJCAC coach of the year, and four of his players earned conference plaudits. Debora Reis was the league’s MVP and freshman player of the year. Grace Hunter and Jordan Brown were all-conference, and Viktoria Ivanova was honorable mention.

Reis, a 6-0 freshman forward from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, led the Lady Texans in scoring, averaging 13.6 points, and rebounds, with 13 per game. She turned in 20 double-doubles for South Plains. She’s playing for the University of San Francisco this season.

Hunter, a 5-10 sophomore guard from Wellington, New Zealand, logged 9.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg statistics and led the team in assists, averaging 3.5. She led SPC in scoring with 17 points in the season-ending loss to Northwest Florida. Hunter transferred to Florida International.

Dyana Offutt, a 5-10 sophomore forward from San Antonio, started about half the Lady Texans’ games and contributed 4.9 ppg, 2.4 rpg. She transferred to the University of New Orleans.

That’s three members of last year’s Lady Texans now shooting baskets for Division I teams.

However, in an unusual development for a junior college team, five of last year’s Lady Texans are coming back for this season. And it would have been six except for an injury.

“Having five back is even a little different than normal,” said Baten, who has coached junior college teams for 20 years. “COVID changed things because the kids were granted an extra year of eligibility, so some of the kids decided to stay put.”

Two of the five returners were basically full-time starters, and another started half the games.

Brown, a 5-9 sophomore guard from Plainsboro, New Jersey,

(Continued from previous page) posted 9.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.2 apg statistics last season. But Brown injured a knee in preseason practice and is questionable for this season.

Ivanova, a 5-10 sophomore forward from Star Zagaro, Bulgaria, is back and ready to go. She was South Plains’ most frequent 3-point shooter last season, making 27 of 89 (30 percent shooting). She also had a 8.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg stat sheet. Ivanova rebounded a missed 3 by Hunter and put in a layup at the buzzer to give the Lady Texans the two-point win over Weatherford in the Region V finals.

“She’s just a complete offensive player,” Baten said. “She can score at all three levels, and she’s very competitive.”

Ewa Kielar, a 6-1 post from Pabianice, Poland, started 11 games last season and contributed 3 ppg and 5.1 rpg.

Ashayla Moseberry, a 5-10 sophomore forward from Madison, Wisconsin, came off the bench with 7 ppg, 2 rpg stats.

Martyna Czescik, a 5-10 sophomore forward (2.6 ppg) from Warsaw, Poland, played in 20 games.

So those five are back, pending Brown’s injury status. A sixth, 5-9 Bulgarian guard, Denitsa Petrova, also is back but won’t play this season because of an injury.

“The experience really helps, because they had the opportunity to play quite a bit,” Baten said.

Along with the experience, South Plains has a lot of new faces, which is quite normal for a junior college. The trick is to mesh them all into a cohesive team.

“It’s just something that all of us (JC coaches) have to do,” Baten said. “We’ve got some talented kids. It’s just how fast they acclimate.”

He particularly likes the promise presented by three freshmen and a transfer.

The frosh trio, representing three different continents, are 6-1 forward Celia Sumbane from Maputo, Mozambique; 6-2 post Vitoria Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and 5-5 guard Matilda Soderlund from Stockholm, Sweden.

“We’ll just have to see how quickly they develop,” Baten said.

The transfer is 5-7 sophomore guard Raija Todd from Cedar Hill. Todd played for McLennan Community College in Waco last season.

“She’s got lots of experience,” Baten said.

Nine of the 15 players on the Lady Texans’ roster are from foreign countries. Doesn’t that present some problems in communication?

“We don’t have as many language problems as you might think. The European kids were all trained in English, and most of them attended high school in the United States. Their English is great,” Baten said.

“With the kids from Africa and Brazil, it’s a little bit of a process. Having an assistant coach (Denise Rosario) from Brazil really helps. She helps with those kids.”

Baten came to South Plains a year ago to replace Cayla Petree, who moved to Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Florida. In five seasons at SPC, Petree’s teams had won 127 and lost 36, a .779 winning percentage.

Baten’s first team went 20-4; that’s an .833 winning percentage.

Baten may have been new to the Levelland school, but he’s an old hand to the WJCAC. His previous post had been at Odessa College, where his Lady Wranglers had 11 20-win campaigns in his 13 seasons there. His Odessa teams made four consecutive trips to the Women’s Basketball National Tournament. His Odessa teams won 274 games and lost 123 and took the 2016-17 WJCAC championship.

A native of Andrews, Baten played on New Mexico Junior College’s 1991-92 WJCAC title team. He transferred to Eastern New Mexico University, where he was a two-year starter. He played on a Greyhound squad that won the Lone Star Conference and qualified for the NCAA Division II Sweet 16.

His first coaching job was at New Mexico JC, where he mentored the Lady Thunderbirds for six years, earning WJCAC coach of the year honors in 2002-03.

When South Plains won that two-pointer over Weatherford in the Region V finals, it marked Baten’s 400th career women’s collegiate coaching victory. His record is 401-198 for a .669 winning percentage.

Baten, who now has 20 years of coaching experience in the conference, knows the WJCAC teams well.

“I expect everybody is going to be tough,” he said. We’ve got four new coaches this year – at Odessa, Frank Phillips, New Mexico Junior College and Western Texas. They’re all great coaches. So the league looks a lot different.”

As for the Lady Texans, he said it’s too early to tell. A cautious answer from a veteran coach.

“We hope to play defense, we hope to rebound and hope we don’t turn the ball over,” he said.

Oct. 15 Ranger College @ TBA South Plains College Classic Nov. 4-6 Connors State College Costal Bend College Otero Junior College

7 p.m. 7 p.m. TBA Nov. 11 @ Grayson College 3 p.m. Nov. 12 Trinity Valley Community College @ Denison 5 p.m. Nov. 26 @ Panola College 3 p.m. Dec. 10 Connors State Classic @ Warner, OK TBA Dec. 31 Northwest Florida State College @ Lake 1 p.m. Charles, LA Jan. 1 Seward County Community College @ Lake 1 p.m. Charles, LA Jan. 6 Howard College 5:45 p.m. Jan. 8 Frank Phillips College @ Borger 2 p.m. Jan. 10 New Mexico Junior College 5:45 p.m. Jan. 13 @ Clarendon College 5:45 p.m. Jan. 17 Western Texas College 5:45 p.m. Jan. 20 @ Odessa College 5:45 p.m. Jan. 24 @ Midland College 5:45 p.m. Feb. 3 Howard College @ Big Spring 5:45 p.m. Feb. 7 Frank Phillips College 5:45 p.m. Feb. 10 New Mexico Junior College @ Hobbs, NM 5:45 p.m. Feb. 14 Clarendon College 5:45 p.m. Feb. 17 Western Texas College @ Snyder 5:45 p.m. Feb. 21 Odessa College 5:45 p.m. Feb. 24 Midland College 5:45 p.m.v