WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team fought back from an 18-point second half deficit, but the Hounds rally fell just short 75-71 at MSU Texas Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs (8-11, 5-7 Lone Star Conference) jumped out to an early five-point lead in the first quarter before Sydney Clark nailed a three-pointer with 6:01 in the first quarter to close the gap to 10-8. However, the Hounds (14-6, 9-3 LSC) could do little to curb the red hot Mustangs as MSU closed out the quarter with a 12-6 run over the final six minutes to hold a 22-14 edge after one quarter of play.
Eastern started the second period with a pair of scores from Alivia Lewis and Zamorye Cox to trim the deficit to 22-18 just 1:13 in before MSU Texas pieced together a strong 8-0 run of its own to expand the lead to double-digits at 30-18 with 7:20left.
Any comeback efforts by the Hounds had was thwarted throughout the remainder of the quarter as the MSU stretched its advantage to 47-30 heading into the halftime break.
The Greyhounds struggled to slow down the Mustangs efficient offense in opening half, as MSU shot 20-of-29 (69 percent) from the field, including 2-for-4 from the three-point arc and 5-for-6 (83 percent) from the charity stripe.
MSU Texas built its lead to as large as 18 with a free throw in the first 19 seconds of the second half to make it a 48-30 game, maintaining a 17-point edge with 5:06 to go before the Hounds mounted their rally.
A Tilasha Okey three-pointer followed by a pair of three-point plays by Treyanna Clay and a Cox three made up a 12-4 run in a three-minute stretch, cutting the deficit to 56-47. The Mustangs briefly stretched its edge back to four with 1:25 left, but the Greyhounds closed out the quarter with five unanswered on a Clay layup and Cox three-pointer to make it a 60-52 game heading into the fourth.
The Mustangs controlled the pace early in the final period, building their advantage back up to 12 with 3:18 left prior to the Hounds making one last push.
Sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech knocked down a three-pointer with 3:05 to go to start a 9-1 run capped off on a Chelsea Hunter layup to set the score at 70-66 with just over a minute left to play.
A free throw by MSU’s Liz Cathcart pushed the edge back to five before Cox knocked down a jumper on the ensuing possession with 21 seconds left to trim the deficit to 71-68.
The Mustangs’ Chelcie Kizart knocked down two more free throws brought the MSU lead back to five prior to Cox burying a huge three-pointer coming out of an ENMU timeout knocked the gap back down to 73-71 with 12 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately, the Hounds were forced to foul and Kizart for the Mustangs went on to knock down two more free throws to seal the Greyhounds defeat.
Eastern put together a stronger offensive performance in the second half, knocking down 14-of-26 (54 percent) from the floor and going 6-for-11 (55 percent) from the three-point arc. The Greyhounds defense held the Mustangs to just 9-for-27 (33 percent) shooting in the latter half and forcing MSU Texas to just 0-of-6 from three-point range.
Clay led the Eastern scoring efforts with her third consecutive 20-point game, notching 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting and going 7-for-12 from the charity stripe.
Cox finished with her first career 20-point effort, going 8-for-13 from the field, including 4-of-7 from the three-point arc.
Lewis was the team’s top rebounder with 10 boards, marking her 11th double-digit rebounding effort of the season. Senior forward Shelby Jones distributed a career-high eight assists, marking the highest single game assist total of the season for the Greyhounds, topping Cox’s mark of seven set in the win against New Mexico Highlands on Nov. 24.
The Greyhounds will look to bounce back next week as Eastern will return home on Thursday, Feb. 7 to host UT-Permian Basin for Greek Night at 5:30 p.m., presented by San Juan Village Apartments. The Hounds will follow it up with a Saturday afternoon matchup with Western New Mexico. The 1960s themed event presented by Pizza Hut on Saturday is scheduled for a 1 p.m. tip-off.
