TUCSON, Ariz. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team got off a slow start in its exhibition opener to the 2018-19 season as the Hounds fell at the University of Arizona 88-31 Monday night in Tucson.
The Hounds were cold shooting from the field in the opening quarter, going 1-for-14 from the field and committed seven turnovers against their Pac-12 opponent.
Despite getting off to a rough start, Eastern started to find an offensive rhythm in the second quarter, scoring 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 on three-point field goal attempts. The freshman guard from Portales, Zamorye Cox got the offensive going in the quarter, scoring the first two buckets before Chelsea Hunter and Dasia Johnson converted on three-pointers to make it a 42-12 game.
Hunter added one more score before the half and senior post Shelby Jones got her first bucket of the game just before the half as the Hounds went into the halftime locker room with a 44-16 deficit.
Eastern struggled to get back into an offensive rhythm in the second half while the Wildcats blistering hot shooting continued.
As a team, the Hounds shot 10-for-49 (20-percent) from the floor and 3-of-19 (16-percent) from three while the Wildcats converted on 36-of-61 (59-percent) of their shots, but we’re limited to just 4-of-11 (36-percent) from the three-point arc by the Eastern defense.
Hunter led all Greyhounds scorers with seven points on 3-for-7 from the floor and 1-of-3 from three. Johnson and Cox each recorded five points in the contest.
Eastern will now look ahead to its next exhibition game as the Hounds will travel to Albuqurque, N.M. to take on New Mexico at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4.
