KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team put together a strong response after losing their first Lone Star Conference game as the Hounds took down Texas A&M-Kingsville 76-53 on Saturday afternoon.
After dropping their first conference game at Angelo State Thursday night and facing a Javelinas team that knocked off undefeated second-ranked West Texas A&M, the Greyhounds (10-4, 5-1 LSC) made a statement against Kingsville by getting their largest margin of victory win in conference play. With the Greyhounds defeating the Javelinas by 23 points, it topped the previous 20-point margin of victory in an 85-65 win at home back on Dec. 1, 2018 against Cameron.
The Hounds set the tone early and never trailed by jumping out to a quick 6-2 advantage off a pair of buckets from Zamorye Cox and Shelby Jones as well as a pair of Chelsea Hunter free throws through the first 2:07 of the first quarter.
Kingsville stayed within striking distance by not allowing the Hounds to not have more than a four-point lead before eventually tying the match up at 11 on a Rachel Tapps free throw with 3:51 to go in the quarter.
Both defenses clamped down over the final minutes of the period as Alivia Lewis scored the only field goal on a three-point play with a minute to go to send the Hounds into the second quarter with a 14-12 edge.
Early in the second period, TAMU-K trimmed the deficit to one on a Cloe Lane three-pointer following a Cox layup to set the score at 16-15 with 7:07 to go until the halftime break.
Two possessions later, Hunter buried a big three-pointer from the right wing with 6:12 remaining to ignite the ENMU offense. The Greyhounds strung together a 19-6 streak over the next five minutes, featuring eight points off a pair of threes and a jumper from junior guard Tilasha Okey to take their largest lead of the half at 35-21 with 1:11 left.
The Javelinas scored the final two points of the half as Eastern took a 35-23 advantage into the break. The Greyhounds shot 14-of-33 (42 percent) in the half while holding TAMUK to just 5-of-19 (26 percent) with a majority of Kingsville’s points coming from the foul line (11-for-16, 69 percent). ENMU was able to take advantage of the size difference in the low post by outrebounding the Javelinas 27-7, including 14 offensive boards in the 20 minutes of action.
Eastern maintained its advantage early in the third quarter as a Clay layup and a pair of free throws from Okey and Jones during a 6-3 run in the first three minutes extended the lead to 41-26 with 7:39left.
The Javelinas cut their deficit to 12 on a Lane jumper with 2:08 left in the third quarter, but Eastern closed out the quarter with an 8-2 run that included a pair of Clay three-point baskets on back-to-back possessions hold a 57-39 edge heading to the fourth.
Kingsville opened the fourth quarter with a Tapps free throw to make it a 17-point deficit for they Javelinas, but that was the closest they would dig into the Hounds commanding lead. Eastern led by 20-plus points for a majority of the fourth period, taking its largest lead on the Hounds final offensive possession on a Laura Rowe three-pointer from the left side to come away with the 76-53 victory.
The Greyhounds offensively went 29-of-63 (46 percent) and 15-for-30 in the second half. Clay led four Hounds in double-figures with 18 points, 16 of which came in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. Clay also snapped a major cold snap from the three-point arc, not only making her first trey of the season, but knocked down 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Lewis added 11 points off the bench and topped the ENMU rebounding efforts with seven boards.
Sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech added 10 points, going 5-for-8 on shot attempts while Okey rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points and five rebounds.
On-top of ENMU’s phenomenal rebounding efforts as the Hounds finished with 19 more rebounds than TAMUK, the Greyhounds bench was a major factor in the outcome as Eastern’s bench outscored the Javelinas bench 31-to-1.
With the Hounds defeating the Javelinas along of West Texas A&M winning at Angelo State and Texas A&M-Commerce beating Texas Woman’s on Saturday, the Greyhounds have moved back into a four-way tie for first place in the Lone Star.
After spending the last six games on the road, the Hounds will return home next week for their first home games of 2019. Eastern will first face Tarleton State on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m. before hosting Texas A&M-Commerce at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
