ABILENE, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team dropped its first game of the regular season as the Hounds fell at Abilene Christian 78-46 Saturday night.
The Hounds (2-1) got off to a slow start early in the first quarter. After senior forward Treyanna Clay tied the game up at two with 8:26 to go, the Wildcats (3-0) responded with an 8-0 run over the next 2:17to claim a 10-2 edge.
The Eastern offense continued to struggle after Kamirah Decker stopped the run, as the Wildcats once again strung together 11 unanswered to take its largest lead of the quarter at 21-4 with 1:16 left.
ACU took a 24-8 advantage into the second quarter and built its lead up to 18 off a pair of free throws at the 9:50 mark, but Eastern put together a strong 12-3 run over the next seven minutes.
Sophomore forward Alivia Lewis started the streak with a jumper, followed by buckets by Clay and Decker. Junior guard Tilasha Okey continued the run with a three-pointer and senior forward Shelby Jones capped the run with an old-fashioned three-point play, making it a 29-20 game with 2:42 to go until the halftime break.
ACU strung together an 8-2 run to reclaim a 15-point advantage at 37-22, but Laura Rowe buried a three-pointer off a Dasia Johnson assist with 12 seconds left, trimming the deficit to just 37-25 heading into the half.
The Hounds got off to a strong start in the third quarter as Clay made a layup off an offensive rebound on their first possession and a Zamorye Cox jump shot at the 8:20 mark cut the Eastern deficit to 37-29.
However, the Wildcats caught fire for the remainder of the third quarter, scoring 23 points in the last eight minutes to expand their to 60-37 heading into the final period.
Eastern’s offensive woes continued in the fourth period as Abilene Christian pulled away to win by a final score of 78-46.
The Hounds shot 17-for-60 (28-percent) from the floor and converted on 3-of-15 (20-percent) of their three-point attempts in the contest.
Clay led all scorers with eight points to go with a team-leading four rebounds. Lewis chipped in seven points on 2-of-4 shooting and converted on all three free throw attempts while also tying a team-leading four rebounds. Lewis recorded three more steals, bringing her season total to seven through the first three games. Sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech chipped in a game-high three assists off the bench for the Hounds.
Abilene Christian marked the fourth NCAA Division I opponent the Greyhounds have faced in their challenging early season schedule. Eastern opened the year with three exhibition contests at Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado State before kicking off the regular season with two wins at home last weekend.
The Hounds will be back in-action over the Thanksgiving break as ENMU will travel to Canyon, Texas for the West Texas A&M Thanksgiving Classic. Eastern will open the tournament on Friday with an 11 a.m. match-up with Colorado State-Pueblo before taking on New Mexico Highlands in a rematch of last week’s game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
