sewardsaints.com
LADY SAINTS – 81
11. NMJC – 84 (OT)
HOBBS, N.M. – A back and forth fourth quarter that eventually pushed into overtime saw the Seward County Lady Saints fall 84-81 to the 11th ranked New Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds for their first loss of the season on Friday evening in the Caster Activity Center.
Seward (4-1) has now played in two overtime games just five games into the 2025-26 season, splitting the two.
The three-point shot kept Seward in the game as they finished 14-31 (45.2 percent) from distance compared to NMJC's 5-19 (26.3 percent) mark.
After trailing 56-51 entering the fourth quarter, the Lady Saints outscored NMJC 25-20 to force overtime. They opened the final quarter outscoring the T-Birds 9-2 connecting on three triples, one each from Grace Posch, Kimora Fagan and RaMya Kennedy to snag their first lead of the second half, 60-58. A jump shot plus a foul from Avery Marchino put Seward ahead 65-60 midway through the quarter. NMJC ripped off three straight made baskets to go ahead 66-65 and later 68-67 but Marchino had an answer both times as her layup made it 69-68 Seward with two minutes to play. The final two minutes saw both teams trading baskets. Posch sunk a three with 1:26 to go to put Seward ahead 72-70 but NMJC's Jada Graves answered with a three of her own to put the T-Birds back ahead. Marchino buried a three out of a timeout with 37 seconds to make it 75-73 and the Lady Saints held that lead until Posch was fouled with seven seconds to go. She went 1-2 from the free throw line and NMJC called a timeout with four seconds left to draw up their final shot, trailing by three. Rekiah Bowen hit a three out of the timeout with two seconds left that sent the game to overtime.
Marchino opened the scoring in overtime with a pair of free throws and NMJC immediately answered with a layup from Bowen. Marchino proceeded to knock down a three but again, Bowen answered with a three of her own to tie it back up 81-81. An Addison Edwards layup plus a foul and made free throw gave NMJC an 84-81 lead. Seward missed its final two shots in the final minute and NMJC got out with the win.
Seward's Marchino and NMJC's Graves duked it out all game as both finished with career-high scoring outputs. Marchino finished with 33 points, seven rebounds and three assists shooting 10-22 from the field, 4-6 from three and 9-13 from the free throw line. Graves turned in a game-high 35 points to go with 10 rebounds and six assists as she shot 15-30 from the field and 4-4 from the free throw line.
Seward shot 38.5 percent (25-65) from the field compared to NMJC's 47.2 percent (34-72). Seward put in just 58.6 percent of their foul shots (17-29) while NMJC shot 11-16 (68.8 percent) from the free throw line. The Lady Saints turned the ball over just eight times compared to the T-Birds 13 giveaways.
Bowen finished with 14 points off the bench for NMJC, 10 of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime combined. Marchino had 10 in the fourth quarter and all five of Seward's points in overtime.
LADY SAINTS – 92
DALLAS CVALLEY – 40
HOBBS, N.M. – The Seward County women's basketball team closed out its 2025-26 non-conference schedule with a dominant 92-40 win over Dallas College Cedar Valley on Saturday afternoon at the Caster Activity Center as part of the New Mexico Junior College Classic.
Seward heads to Concordia on Wednesday with a 5-1 record as they open KJCCC play at Cloud County with a 6 p.m. tipoff.
Dallas College is 2-4 having lost four straight.
The Lady Saints saw Cedar Valley get out to a 5-0 lead before an Avery Marchino layup got Seward on the board. Cedar Valley then led 7-2 but Seward outscored them 21-8 the rest of the quarter taking a 23-15 lead into the second.
The Lady Saints allowed just six second quarter points and five third quarter points. They led 44-21 at the half and 66-26 after the third. The largest lead of the game for Seward was when they took a 52-point lead at 84-32 with 4:10 to play.
Marchino led Seward with 24 points on 9-18 shooting, also adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Kimora Fagan posted 16 points and seven rebounds, Destiny Alexander finished with 13 points and nine rebounds and Tyniah Smith had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench, both season-highs. RaMya Kennedy chipped in eight points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The Lady Saints held DCCV to 21.2 percent shooting from the field, out-rebounding them 53-37 and outscoring them 50-14 in the paint.
SAINTS – 75
NMMI – 66
HOBBS, N.M. – For the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Seward County men's basketball team is off to a 5-0 start.
The Saints defeated the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos (2-4) 75-66 on Friday evening at the Caster Activity Center in day one of the New Mexico Junior College Classic.
The Saints held NMMI to 34.8 percent shooting from the field and 10 percent (2-20) from three as they played stifling defense in the win.
Seward was led by Lyna Brooks Jr.'s 16 points while Lucas N'Gombo added 10 points and seven rebounds. Bailey Milligan and Quincey Kidd each had nine points while RJ McKinnie had six points, five rebounds and three assists off the bench.
The largest lead of the game for Seward was at the 4:29 mark of the first half when they went ahead by 16 off a Brevyn Coleman free throw.
Seward led 41-28 at the break. NMMI outscored the Saints 38-34 in the second half but the closest the Broncos got was six points multiple times in the final six minutes of the game.
NMMI outrebounded Seward 44-37 as the Saints allowed 18 offensive rebounds.
Seward played all 13 players in the win.
SAINTS – 68
RV. NMJC – 81
HOBBS, N.M. – In a tightly contested game, it was the receiving votes New Mexico Junior College Thunderbirds that pulled away in the second half handing the Seward men their first loss of the season, 81-68, on Saturday afternoon at the Caster Activity Center.
Seward (5-1) was outscored 48-37 in the second half as the Thunderbirds (6-0) earned the win on their home floor.
The game marks the end of the non-conference slate for Seward as they travel to Concordia on Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tip with the Cloud County T-Birds to kick off the KJCCC slate.
Seward trailed 33-31 at halftime after Lyna Brooks Jr. poured in 11 first half points and Lucas N'Gombo pulled down eight first half rebounds.
A dunk from N'Gombo tied the game 40-40 at the 16:48 mark of the second half and an N'Gombo layup a minute later capped a 9-0 run giving the Saints the lead, 42-40, for the first time in the half.
NMJC countered with a dunk from Francois Nkoy-Eale plus a foul and made free throw. That put them ahead 43-42 and they did not trail again in the game. The T-Birds largest lead was 16 at the 3:19 mark of the second half when an RJ Nance layup put them ahead 75-59.
Four Saints finished in double figures led by Antonio Williams Jr.'s 14 points off the bench. Lyna Brooks Jr. had 13 points and four rebounds, N'Gombo had 12 points and a season-high 13 rebounds and Bailey Milligan finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Nance finished with a game-high 21 points for NMJC while Kenny Fields had 15 points off the bench.
Seward shot 38 percent (19-50) from the field, NMJC shot 42 percent (29-69). Both teams hit 11 threes while Seward was 19-32 from the free throw line and NMJC was 12-20. The T-Birds had 40 bench points. Seward outrebounded the T-Birds 49-37 in the game. The Saints tied their season-high turning the ball over 25 times compared to NMJC's 14 giveaways.
