LUBBOCK, TX – No. 18 Walters State battled tough but saw their season come to an end on Thursday evening in the NJCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Sweet Sixteen to No. 2 Eastern Florida State, 73-45.
With the loss, the Lady Senators closed the season at 26-5. Walters State were TCCAA Regular Season Champions, Region VII Tournament Champions and won the program's first national tournament game since 2019.
The Lady Senators were led in the game by Kailyn Farrell with Maiya Reed with 11 points each. Farrell had seven rebounds, while Reed had five rebounds and four assists. Farrell finished the season averaging 15 points and eight rebounds per game. Reed finished averaging seven points, five assists and three rebounds.
Along with Farrell and Reed, Tyasia Reed capped off her season with nine points and four rebounds. Tyasia Reed finished averaging 14 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
Other contributors on Thursday evening were Briontanay Marshall with five points, Rose Morrow with four points and three rebounds, Izarria Alexander with three points and three steals and Matty Tanner with two points.
As a team, the Lady Senators forced 19 turnovers and scored 15 points off them.
The Lady Senators started strong on Thursday as Tyasia Reed drilled a 3-pointer 13 seconds in. Maiya Reed then hit a layup to make it 5-2. Eastern Florida would eventually take an 11-7 lead, but Tyasia Reed hit another three and Farrell made a layup to give the Lady Senators a 12-11 advantage.
However, Eastern Florida scored the next seven points to lead 18-11 before Tyasia Reed hit one more three to make it 18-15 after one.
In the second, the tide turned as Eastern Florida scored 24 points and held the Lady Senators to 12 to lead, 42-27. Maiya Reed had five points in the quarter while Marshall had three. Tanner and Morrow each pitched in two.
In the third, the two defenses battled tough with just 19 total points scored. Unfortunately for the Lady Senators, they scored just seven of those points and trailed, 54-34. Farrell had three points while Morrow and Marshall each had two.
The two teams picked it up with 30 combined points in the fourth, but Walters State scored just 11 of them as Eastern Florida pulled away. Maiya Reed and Farrell each had four points in the final 10 minutes.
Rob Harvey
Walters State Community College
Sports Information Director
Cell: (423) 779-8880
Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu
Website: www.ws.edu/athletics