The Blinn College women’s basketball team is moving on in the Region XIV Tournament following a 77-72 quarterfinal victory over Tyler Junior College on Wednesday in Tyler, Texas.
The fourth-seeded Buccaneers (22-9) used a 26-point fourth quarter to fend off the fifth-seeded Apaches. Blinn defeated Tyler for the first time this year in three meetings and reached the region tournament semifinal round for a fifth consecutive season.
“That was a great win for us against a very good Tyler team that had beaten us twice in the regular season,” Bucs head coach Jeff Jenkins said. “Our ladies competed their tails off and not only got to the free-throw line, but made their free throws, too. I am extremely happy for them.”
The Bucs and Apaches went toe-to-toe for four periods, with neither team gaining too big of an advantage for 40 minutes. Blinn led 19-13 at the end of the first period and saw that lead shrink to 29-25 by halftime.
Tyler made it a 51-49 ballgame heading into the fourth quarter, but the Bucs caught fire to outscore the Apaches 26-23 during the final 10 minutes of play.
Leading the way for Blinn was freshman guard Chelsy Singleton, who tallied a game-high 20 points. Freshman guard Jonesha Neal followed with 17 points to go with five assists, and fellow first-year guard Wynter Jones chipped in 10 points.
Next up for the Bucs is a clash with top-seeded Angelina College at 1 p.m. on Friday, March 15, in Tyler. Blinn owns two regular-season victories over the Roadrunners this season and will need a third to reach the region tournament championship game for a third consecutive year.
“It will be an extremely tough matchup for us,” Jenkins said. “Angelina has two of the best players in the nation and we were very fortunate to beat them twice during the season. We have our work cut out for us.”
