LEVELLAND, Texas — A second-half rally lifted the Portales Lady Rams over El Paso Eastwood 33-28 for third place in the Levelland Tournament on Saturday. Portales led 4-3 after the first only to have the Lady Troopers score 11 points to go up 14-10 at the half.

“(Eastwood) is a good offensive team that is hard to guard,” Portales coach Clay Stout said. “I think this was their 13th game of the season. We were a little run down in the first half, but in the second half the girls stepped up their intensity and I thought that was the difference that helped us on offense and defensively.”

The second half opened with both teams trading points before Portales tied the game at 21 going into the fourth quarter. The Portales Lady Rams (3-1) defense held El Paso Eastwood (9-4) to seven points in the fourth, while their defense put 12 points for a 33-28 win.

“We got better this week because we felt last night the Levelland game should have been closer,” Stout said. “If we would have made those inside shots that we missed. I felt the girls responded well.”

Portales junior Macy Mitchell had 15, senior Gabby Garcia scored 10 and sophomore Jenna Sievers finished with four points. The Portales Lady Rams play Rio Rancho on Thursday at the Rio Rancho Tournament.

“We’re hoping to take some things away from this tournament that can help us and apply that to our offense and defense next week,” Stout said. “There are some things the team and the coaches learned and had to adjust to.”