CANYON, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team opened the West Texas A&M Thanksgiving Classic with a 58-54 victory over Colorado State-Pueblo for the second year in a row on Friday afternoon.
The Thunderwolves (2-3) opened the game with two of the first three baskets in the first two minutes to grab the early 4-2 edge before ENMU (3-1) mustered a strong 10-0 run over the next 2:37 to make it a 12-4 Hounds advantage.
A pair of Shelby Jones free throws started the run, tying the game up and sophomore forward Alivia Lewis gave Eastern the lead for the remainder of the half on an and-one layup to make it 7-4 with 6:37left to play in the quarter. Tilasha Okey followed with the Hounds first three-pointer of the contest and freshman forward Kamirah Decker capped off the run with a layup in the paint to set the score at 12-4at the 5:25 mark of the first quarter.
A few minutes later, Okey gave Eastern its largest lead of the half on her second three-pointer from the left side to make it a 17-8 game with 3:39 to go.
The Thunderwolves closed out the first period with four unanswered in the final 1:13, cutting the Hounds lead to 21-16 and continued their 6-0 run by scoring the first two points of the second quarter.
However, back-to-back buckets by Lewis and Jones stretched the Greyhounds advantage back to seven at 25-18 with 6:44 left to play until halftime. Both defenses managed to clamp down over the next 5:11as neither team converted a field goal until Okey converted a layup off a turnover with 1:33 left to make it a 27-20 ENMU lead.
Jena Mehlbrecht converted the last score of the half for Eastern with 29 seconds remaining to send the Hounds into the halftime break with the 29-23 advantage.
Pueblo came out on-fire to start the third quarter, stringing together a 9-2 run in the first 4:10 to claim a 32-31 lead, the Thunderwolves first lead since 4-2 early in the first quarter.
With CSU-P holding the one-point edge to 36-35 with 3:26 to go in the third, Eastern scored on three consecutive possessions, starting with a Dasia Johnson jumper from the left side to reclaim the lead, followed by back-to-back buckets by senior forward Treyanna Clay, which included a three-point play to set the score at 42-36 with 2:32 to go. Neither team could muster another score before the end of the period as the Hounds held the six-point edge going into the fourth quarter.
Eastern built its lead to as much as 11 with 6:25 left when Jones hit a hookshot in the paint to make it a 48-37 game. However, CSU-Pueblo started to chip away into the Hounds advantage, by going on a 9-4 run and trimming the lead to six at 52-46 with 4:25to go.
Neither team could manage to score over a three-minute stretch until a pair of CSU-P free throws made it a four-point game with 1:27 left. Clay made a big defensive play for the Hounds with 58 seconds to go, coming up with her fourth steal of the contest and putting the Thunderwolves in a must-foul situation.
Over the next 40 second stretch, freshman guard Zamorye Cox knocked down 5-of-6 free throw attempts in-between a CSU-P three-pointer to make it a 57-51 game before the Thunderwolves converted their second three-pointer in a 10 second stretch to make it a three-point game with five seconds left.
On the Hounds following possession, Jones was fouled on the in-bound play and she made a free throw that sealed the 58-54 win for the Greyhounds.
The ENMU defense challenged a Thunderwolves team that was averaging 74.3 points per game heading into the contest and were converting on 45-percent of their shots. The Hounds held Pueblo to season-lows with 54 points on 33-percent shooting while also forcing the Thunderwolves into committing a season-high 21 turnovers.
The Greyhounds put together a balanced scoring effort with five players scoring seven or more points, led by Clay as the only player in double-figures with 13 points and five rebounds to go with a season-high four steals. Jones was also effective offensively and defensively in the paint for the Hounds, scoring nine points and gathering five rebounds to go with a season-best three steals.
Lewis continued to build upon her team-lead in rebounds, coming up with a career-high 12 rebounds while Johnson tied her season-best efforts with five assists.
For the second year in a row, the Hounds have handed the Thunderwolves a defeat in the WTAMU Thanksgiving Classic, repeating the result of last year’s 62-61 win over CSU-Pueblo.
Eastern will wrap up the WTAMU Thanksgiving Classic tomorrow with an 11 a.m. rematch against New Mexico Highlands. The two teams are meeting for the second time this season after the Hounds defeated the Cowgirls 66-38 in their season-opener on Nov. 9.
