As the Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team enters the Lone Star Conference Tournament this week, the Hounds held serve at No. 7 in the NCAA Division II South Central Regional Rankings released on Wednesday.
The Lone Star Conference (LSC), the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), and the Heartland Conference (HC) make up the South Central region as the winners of each conference tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament while the top five remaining teams will receive at-large bids. The rankings are based off of the success against NCAA Division II opponents with factors such as strength of schedule and record against in-region opponents being taken into account.
Eastern maintained its spot after splitting a pair of hard-fought road games last week, first dropping a 67-60 overtime match at No. 18 and the top-rated team in the region, West Texas A&M, before bouncing back with a big 71-63 road win at Texas Woman’s to snap ENMU’s four game road losing streak and lock up the No. 4 seed in the LSC Tournament.
Holding the top spot for the second consecutive week was West Texas A&M (LSC) after winning at home against the Hounds and picking up a road win at Texas Woman’s to round out the regular season. Lubbock Christian (HC) jumped one spot to second after picking up a big win over St. Edward’s while Colorado Mesa (RMAC) fell one spot to third after getting a win over Colorado Mesa last week.
There was little movement in the poll below the top three as No. 4 Angelo State (LSC), No. 5 Tarleton State (LSC), and No. 6 Westminster (RMAC) each held their ground in the poll. Texas A&M-Commerce (HC) also maintained its eighth ranking in this week’s poll, as the Lions would currently be the last team in barring any team from outside the top eight wins its conference championship.
Newman (HC) made its way into the top 10 this week, debuting in ninth after winning its fifth straight game while St. Mary’s (HC) dropped from ninth to No. 10.
The Greyhounds will be looking for some revenge in their first round game of the LSC Tournament as Eastern will face the fifth-seeded and current No. 8 team in the region Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Commerica Center.