Howard College Hawks guard Veronica Wilson (32) dribbles around a New Mexico Junior College Lady Thunderbirds defender in the Hawks’ 66-49 win Thursday in the Dorothy Garrett Coliseum. (HERALD photo/Jonathan Hull)

Howard led by 16 at the intermission, but saw New Mexico start to chip away at that lead early in the second half. However, the Hawks never allowed the Lady Thunderbirds to get closer than 10 points.

Still, the second half felt eerily similar to final 25 minutes of Howard’s overtime loss to Western Texas College last week.

“I was really concerned about our intensity for almost the whole game, offensively and defensively,” Hawks Head Coach Earl Diddle said. “We’re the No. 1 team in the nation defensively and we don’t get out after people like we should. Maybe we were still reeling from that tough loss to Western Texas, but we weren’t the same team tonight.”

Powering the Hawks offensively was Candace Lambert, who had 13 points in the first half and was pivotal in a 13-3 run 13 minutes into the game that allowed the Hawks to pull away.

Lambert didn’t shoot with the same consistency early in the second half, but did sink two important baskets, helping Howard put an end to a New Mexico run.

“Candace did a good job moving without the ball and her teammates found her,” Diddle said. “She’s a typical rhythm player. I told her in practice today that she needed to start looking for her shot. She played much more aggressive the whole game.”

Lambert finished with 17 to lead Howard in scoring. Monica Jones posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Hawks outrebounded New Mexico 40-30 with Aqueelah Watkins pulling down a game-high 11 boards to lead the way. Watkins had eight offensive rebounds and Howard had 18 offensive boards in the game, leading to 18 second chance points.
New Mexico was led by Brittany Foster’s game-high 18 points and Malorie Marshall chipped in 17, but was also guilty of nine turnovers.

The win improves Howard’s conference record to 3-2 with Clarendon College coming into town Monday. To Diddle, the Hawks need to win every game remaining on the schedule to secure a spot in the Region V Tournament.

“The Western Texas game is gone, but that was a big game,” Diddle said. “We’re ready for Clarendon Monday and we’ve got to win that game. Every conference game is must win for us right now. We’re playing to get into the region tournament. Our enthusiasm for the game wasn’t the same tonight. We’ve got to pick that up quickly.”
Tip off for Monday’s game is 5:30 p.m.

NMJC    21    28—49
HC        37    29—66

NMJC: Malorie Marshall 17, Alana Bell 1, Alesha Jackson 6, Monique Lujan 2, Brittany Foster 18, Dominique Haywood 5.

HC (17-4, 3-2): Candace Lambert 17, Rachael Dryver 2, Monica Jones 12, Kandace Griffin 7, Danielle Cota 6, Aqueelah Watkins 9, Jotosha McDonald 2, Veronica Wilson 6, DeAndra Thomas 5.

Contact Sports Editor Jonathan Hull by calling 263-7331, ext. 237, or by e-mailing him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it