COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After picking up a pair of victories over regionally-ranked teams last week, the Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team jumped to sixth in the latest D2SIDA South Central Regional Poll released on Monday.
The weekly poll, sponsored by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is voted upon by six sports information directors from the South Central region, three of which from the Lone Star (LSC)/Heartland Conferences (HC) and three from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).
Eastern opened the week with a come-from-behind 73-67 victory over the No. 9 team in the region, Tarleton State on Thursday before following it up with a dominating 90-79 win over the seventh-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday.
The Hounds trailed by as much as nine to the TexAnns and were down by two with three minutes left when Eastern closed out with a 10-2 run to seal the victory. The Greyhounds had a far less dramatic win over the Lions by jumping out to an early 10-0 lead and never trailed throughout. The Hounds led by as much as 22 against Commerce in the second half and held a comfortable 20-point margin after a Zamorye Cox three-pointer with five minutes left.
The impressive efforts even earned the Hounds a pair of LSC weekly awards as Treyanna Clay was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Alivia Lewis earned her second Defensive Player of the Week accolade this season.
The Greyhounds climbed two spots in this week’s poll with 39 total votes, finishing eight votes ahead of Western Colorado (RMAC) in seventh and 11 votes ahead of LSC rival Tarleton State in eighth.
For the first time this season, there was a shift at the top of poll as Colorado Mesa (RMAC) became the new top-ranked team with 56 votes and four first-place votes. Angelo State (LSC) moved up one spot to second with 51 votes and a first-place vote while West Texas A&M (LSC) fell from first for the first time this season, dropping to third with 48 votes after losing at home to Tarleton State on Saturday.
Westminster (LSC) held serve in the No. 4 spot with 45 votes and picked up a first place vote while Lubbock Christian (HC) maintained its fifth-place ranking with 39 votes.
Texas A&M-Commerce (LSC) fell from seventh to ninth with 10 votes after losing to the Hounds and at West Texas A&M while Newman climbed into the rankings at 10th with eight votes.
Eastern is preparing to face its third consecutive regionally-ranked opponent at home and it’s fourth in five games. The Hounds will host the No. 8 team in the nation and third-ranked in the region in West Texas A&M in a contest presented by Big Valley Auto at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
