The non-conference triumph at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas, pushed the Buccaneers’ overall record to 13-1.
“I didn’t think we shot very well, but we got to play all 11 of our players and they got a lot of good minutes tonight,” Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins said. “We have to play better if we want to win games in our region, but we played well defensively, and I know going forward we’ll shoot the ball much better than we did tonight.”
In the opening period, North American took advantage of some shaky shooting by the Buccaneers and grabbed a lead late in the period. A 3-pointer with 49 seconds to go gave the Stallions a 17-15 edge, but Blinn sophomore forward Tiffany Tullis tied the game with a layup just before the end of the quarter before the Buccaneers pushed their defense into turbo mode.
Blinn went on a 16-0 run across the entire second period, which featured buckets from five Buccaneers as the hosts took a 33-17 lead into halftime.
North American wouldn’t find the basket again until the 6:28 mark of the third quarter, going more than 14 minutes without a point.
“We started slow, but once we calmed down and came together, I think we were able to slow them down a bit and find our comfort zone on the court,” reserve freshman guard Tianna Mathis said. “We’ve been taking things one practice and one game at a time, and we were happy to put this one in the win column.”
Leading the way offensively for Blinn was sophomore guard Hannah Humphrey, who finished with 12 points. Tullis, Mathis, and sophomore guard Skylar Barnes tallied 11 apiece, freshman guard Amyria Walker finished with nine, and sophomore guard Makayla Patterson posted eight.
The Buccaneers continue their season with a non-conference home tilt against Louisiana State University-Eunice at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at the Kruse Center.
