Jeff Jenkins waited almost 36 minutes for the Blinn College women’s basketball team to “turn the corner” Saturday.
When they did, the Buccaneers turned onto victory lane.
Blinn rallied from several double-digit deficits before taking the lead for good with 5:44 left in the fourth quarter and holding on for a thrilling 92-85 Region XIV upset of No. 4 Trinity Valley Community College on Saturday at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
“Down the stretch we made some plays and got some stops, so I’m very proud that we never quit, we never gave up, and we played hard,” Jenkins, Blinn’s head coach said. “As far as playing good basketball, we’re going to do nothing but get better.”
Getting better has been the theme for the Buccaneers practically all season, as their record on Saturday jumped to 17-1 overall and 6-1 in region play. Trinity Valley dropped to 13-3 overall and 4-2 in the region.
Blinn trailed by 10 three different times in the first half and faced a 48-42 halftime deficit before pulling ahead, 65-63, at the end of the third period.
The two teams then began trading buckets before freshmen guards Telisha Brown and Makayla Patterson knocked down back-to-back 3s to put the Bucs ahead to stay at 73-69.
Two free throws moved the Cardinals within 83-80 at the 2-minute mark, but foul trouble left the depleted visitors vulnerable as they finished with just three players on the court. In the meantime, Blinn iced the game with a 9-5 spurt.
“In the second half, we just had to come together,” said Blinn freshman forward Tiffany Tullis, who paced her team with 26 points. “We were in the locker room talking to each other about what we needed to do to get back into this game, and it was defense. Once we came out in the second half and played better defense, we were able to get our energy up and everything else just kind of fell into place.”
Following Tullis in the scoring column were freshman guard Allana Thompson, who tallied 17 points, Patterson with 12, and sophomore forward Deja Adrian with 10.
Blinn takes on region leader and seventh-ranked Tyler Junior College (16-2, 6-0) in a 5:30 p.m. road tilt Wednesday, Jan. 26, in Tyler, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
