ARTICLE BY CHRIS AMAYA | ODESSA AMERICAN 

For the first time since Jan. 6, the Odessa College women's basketball team came away with a victory in Western Junior College Athletic Conference play.

The Lady Wranglers looked confident as the action progressed in their 51-33 win against Howard College Monday at the OC Sports Center.

"I thought they played hard, I thought they played consistent," Odessa College coach Franqua Bedell said. "They did more of what we wanted, they kind of stayed within the game plan."

Bedell added that he wants to see the Lady Wranglers be more consistent on the defensive side of the ball, but he was impressed with the effort the team gave against the Lady Hawks.

Both teams had to overcome a slow start, with Howard College holding a 3-point lead at the end of the first quarter despite shooting 15.8% from the field.

The Lady Wranglers started turning things in their favor by outscoring the Lady Hawks 13-9 in the second quarter.

After the halftime break, Odessa College turned in one of its strongest performances of the season.

By spreading out the Lady Hawks' defense, the Lady Wranglers outscored Howard College 32-15 in the second half to end their three-game losing streak.

Bedell said it was the first time in his head coaching career that one of his teams held an opponent to single digits scored in all four quarters.

Jessie Dai led Odessa College with 14 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

Nahawa Berthe followed closely with 10 points scored.

Through the season, Bedell has seen his team get outplayed in one quarter each game and he feels that has been the difference in most of the losses.

The Lady Wranglers avoided that situation by playing aggressively through the third quarter, where they outscored the Lady Hawks 21-9.

"This year has been one quarter where we've kind of let off the gas and we get killed," Bedell said. "Today, we kept that from happening so that helped us win the game."

Odessa College also had a rebounding edge over Howard College, collecting 45 rebounds compared to the Lady Hawks' 34.

The Lady Wranglers (5-14 overall, 2-5 conference) will continue WJCAC play against New Junior College at 6:45 p.m. Thursday in Hobbs, N.M.