Senior forward Treyanna Clay notched her 1000th career point and the regionally sixth-ranked Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team had to rally from a 19-point fourth quarter deficit, but ultimately fell 80-75 to No.7 Tarleton State on Saturday afternoon.
In the battle of two NCAA Division II South Central Regional ranked teams, the Hounds (18-8, 13-5 Lone Star Conference) struggled for most of the game, but made a furious comeback in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to climb to within one possession of the TexAnns (19-7, 12-6 LSC).
The Hounds opened the game by knocking down 3-of-4 from the foul line, as a pair by Zamorye Cox followed by an Alivia Lewis conversion made it a 3-2 game just 1:45 in. The TexAnns put together a strong 10-0 response over the next three minutes to take a 12-3 lead with 5:30 remaining.
Tarleton State was able to maintain their nine-point edge throughout the remainder of the quarter before taking a 21-12 advantage into the second period.
Early in the second, the Hounds made a couple of small runs to narrow the gap to seven, but the TexAnns were able to hold off the comeback efforts to stretch their lead to as much as 12 at 34-22 with 2:31 left until the break.
Eastern closed the gap to six on a Shelby Jones layup followed by four free throws from Laura Rowe to set the score at 34-28 with 32 seconds left. TSU’s Kylie Collins and Clay traded free throws on back-to-back possessions to send TSU into the half with a 36-30 edge.
The third quarter was a stalemate between the two squads as the TexAnns could only build their advantage to as much as nine through the first seven minutes, but the Greyhounds were able to fight back to close the edge to four on multiple occasions, the last coming on a Chelsea Hunter fastbreak layup to make it a 49-45 game with 2:47 to go.
The TexAnns finished the period by scoring nine of the last 11 points to take a 58-47 edge into the fourth quarter.
Momentum hung with the TexAnns through the first 2:13 as TSU scored the first eight points of the quarter to grab its largest lead of the contest at 66-47 with 7:47 remaining.
With 5:52 to go, Hunter was able to fire up the Hounds offensively and defensively with a three-pointer, igniting a 19-5 run that featured a pair of three-pointers from Laura Rowe and another by Cox, narrowing the TSU edge to 71-66 with 2:18 left.
Tarleton was able to push their advantage back to eight with 1:40 on the clock, but Clay knocked down a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession, followed by a Jones steal and another Cox three-pointer to make it a one-possession game at 74-71 with 50 seconds to go.
After the TexAnns responded with a layup by Mackenzie Hailey, the Hounds put together another strong response with a Rowe layup prior to Hunter coming up with a steal and layup on the in-bound play to make it just a one-point Hounds deficit at 76-75 with 25 seconds left.
TSU’s Hailey was able to convert a pair of free throws to stretch the TexAnns’ lead back to three, setting up one last Hounds possession to tie. On the Hounds’ final possession, Cox got a look at a possible three-point equalizer from the right wing, but her shot bounced out as TSU came up with the defensive rebound to thwart the Eastern comeback.
Offensively, the Hounds shot 22-for-55 (40 percent) from the field and 7-of-14 (50 percent) from the three-point arc as well as an efficient 24-of-28 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line. The Greyhounds were able to convert five three-point shots in the fourth quarter during the big comeback. Meanwhile, the TexAnns knocked down 27-of-59 (45.8 percent) from the field, but just 3-for-13 (23.1 percent) from the arc and 23-of-33 (69.7 percent) from the charity stripe.
Clay led four Greyhounds in double-figures scoring, tying a career-high 25 points while knocking down a career-best 17-for-20 from the free throw line. Clay reached a career milestone in the second quarter after making a pair of free throws to score her 1000th collegiate career point. Clay was also able to notch her fifth double-double of the season with a team-leading 10 rebounds to go with three steals.
Hunter and Rowe were able to break into double-digit scoring with 14 points apiece. Hunter’s 14-point effort was a season-high on 6-for-9 from the floor and went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Hunter also tallied six rebounds and four assists in the losing effort. Rowe also turned in a season-high scoring performance, going 4-for-9 from the field, 2-for-4 from three, and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Cox rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting with a pair of threes while also dishing out a team-high six assists.
The Greyhounds will have a short turnaround as they will prepare for another big LSC and South Central regional road battle with the No. 4 team in the South Central region in West Texas A&M on Tuesday night. Tuesday’s contest in Canyon, Texas is slated for a 4:30 p.m. tip and will be featured on ESPN3’s NCAA Division II Showcase available through the ESPN app.