By Jayson Larson Sports Editor

The No. 5 Trinity Valley Community College Lady Cardinals ripped off a 102-57 win in the opener of their TVCC Classic Friday night against Neosha.

They could have used some of those points Saturday, when they scored just 12 points in the first 11 minutes of their game against No. 9 Northeastern Oklahoma at Cardinal Gym.

Points were hard to come by all afternoon, but they found just enough to defeat NEO (1-2), 73-68, in a battle of nationally-ranked teams.

“Our kids, we didn’t play that well, but we found a way to win,” TVCC Head Coach Bill Damuth said. “ ... We just didn’t play the first 10 minutes of the first half.”

The Lady Cards (3-0) didn’t hit a shot from the field until six minutes in when Tawanna Lee’s three touched the bottom of the net. Just prior to those points, the Lady Cards had trouble containing NEO post Jelena Cerina, who scored eight of her team’s first 14 points.

But after NEO’s Brittney Woodard hit a three with 9:23 left in the first half to push the lead to 23-12, the Lady Cards went on a 21-2 run.

Jenea Barrett — who finished with a game-high 23 points — provided most of the spark for TVCC, scoring 16 of the 21 points, including 13 straight. Her three-point play after being fouled on a layup gave TVCC its first lead at 26-23 with 5:07 left in the half, and the Lady Cards held a 33-32 lead at halftime.

The game stayed tight throughout the second half, with NEO tying the game at 59 as late as the 4:52 mark. But TVCC responded with a bucket from Brittney Dukes and then a big three-pointer from Lee to make it 64-59 with under three minutes left.

NEO’s Shea Bowden missed a three with 1:15 left that could have tied the game, and TVCC answered back with Michelle White’s three to push the lead back to five with 53 seconds left.

Lee hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to give the Lady Cards a 73-68 lead to ice the game.

Gloria Brown had 11 points and 13 rebounds for TVCC, and Marcisa McMillan pulled down 11 boards.

NEO was led by Cerina, who had 17 points.

The Lady Cards will jump on a bus Tuesday headed on a long and challenging road trip. They will make a stop in Mississippi to face Meridian Wednesday at 6 p.m., and they play the first of three games at the Chipola Classic beginning Friday. Host Chipola is the No. 3-ranked team in the nation.

They return home Nov. 18 to face McLennan in a 7 p.m. start.

LADY CARDINALS 73, LADY REBELS 68

NEO (68) – Kashei Hopkins 1; Brittney Woodard 10; Ashton Pittman 9; Shea Bowden 14; Kayla Gardner 2; Ashley McKeel 13; Ashley Jordan 2; Jelena Cerina 17.

TVCC (73) – Michelle White 7; Mechel’le Thomas 1; Gloria Brown 11; Tawanna Lee 20; Jenea Barrett 23; Brittney Dukes 2; Lesha Dunn 5; Marcisa McMillan 4.

Three-Pointers: NEO 9-13 (Pittman 3, Bowden 3, Woodard 2, McKeel). TVCC 6-17 (Lee 3, Barrett 2, White).

Halftime Score: TVCC 33, NEO 32.

Turnovers: NEO 12. TVCC 12.

Free Throws: NEO 9-19. TVCC 25-35.

Team Fouls: NEO 23. TVCC 18. Hill 28

Fouled Out: NEO-none. TVCC-none.

Technical Fouls: NEO-none. TVCC-none.Season Records: NEO 1-2. TVCC 3-0.