Women’s Basketball 3/5/2020 11:15:00 PM Zac Alfers
Fourth Quarter Rally Carries Women’s Basketball to Victory over Tarleton State in LSC Quarterfinal
In a tightly contested match-up that saw 13 lead changes, Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball made some crucial plays down the stretch to take a 66-62 victory over Tarleton State Thursday night inside Comerica Center.
The Hounds took down the No. 4 seed Texans to advance to the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Women’s Basketball Championship against the top seed Texas A&M-Commerce at 1:30 p.m. The win marks the first time since 1993 that Eastern will move past the second round of the LSC postseason tournament. The ’93 team advanced all the way to the championship game.
Entering the final quarter of play, the Greyhounds faced a seven point deficit and quickly trimmed that to a single point as they mounted a six-point rally, capped off by a fast break layup from sophomore Zamorye Cox. Cox finished the game with 24 points and dished out seven assists while also getting after it defensively, swiping a game-high five steals.
Trailing 60-57 with less than four minutes remaining, the Green and Silver were able to rattle off eight unanswered points with the Greyhounds best playmakers coming up with huge shots during crunch time. Junior forward Alivia Lewis took the ball from the left corner and drove baseline before sinking the layup through contact to give Eastern its first lead since the 7:43 mark of the third quarter.
Another bucket from senior Natalie DeLonge helped increase the Greyhound lead before Cox picked up a huge steal that led to a layup and iced the game in the final eight seconds of play.
The High Plains squad was outstanding on the defensive side of the floor and forced the Texans into 18 turnovers. Eastern converted those possession miscues into 21 points while holding TSU to just eight points off turnovers.
DeLonge and Lewis form one of the best frontcourts in the conference and the pair combined for all ten of the team’s ten blocks, five apiece. DeLonge added 18 points and hauled in eight boards while Lewis matched those rebound numbers and finished with five points and three assists.
Eastern becomes the first team to secure an upset in the tournament. The Hounds now own a perfect 5-0 record in neutral site contests and are 11-1 when playing on Thursday.
