PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team picked up its second consecutive win against a regionally ranked team as the Hounds led the entire way in a 90-79 win over Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Arena.
Saturday’s contest, presented by Roosevelt General Hospital was a battle of two of the top four teams in the Lone Star Conference, but the Greyhounds (12-4, 7-1 LSC) jumped out fast and never let the Lions (10-6, 5-3 LSC) back into the game.
Eastern opened the first quarter with 10 unanswered points through the first 7:37, including a pair of three-pointers from Treyanna Clay and Chelsea Hunter as well as a Shelby Jones jumper to get out to one of its best starts of the season.
After the Lions scored their first bucket at the 7:19mark, the Hounds answered back with a three-pointer from Zamorye Cox and a Clay turnaround jumper to take their largest lead of the quarter at 15-2 with 6:07 to go.
The Lions fought back with a 12-3 run of their own over the next five minutes to trim their deficit to four at 18-14, but Hunter was fouled on a rebound with three seconds left and her free throws gave ENMU a 20-14 advantage going into the second quarter.
The Hounds once again got off to a strong start in the second period by stringing together an 8-0 streak over the first 2:45, thanks to a pair of baskets from Alivia Lewis and Clay while Tilasha Okey knocked down a three with 7:15 to go to make it a 28-14 game.
Commerce responded with six unanswered to close the gap to 28-20 with 5:45 left, but Okey answered back with a three-pointer and a jumper to put the Hounds back up by 13. The Greyhounds maintained their double-digit advantage through the rest of the half before going into the halftime break with a 37-25 edge.
The Hounds defense pestered the Lions into shooting just 9-of-42 (21 percent) and 2-of-8 (25 percent) from the three-point arc. On the offensive side of the ball, the Hounds shot a solid 12-for-29 (41 percent) and converted on 5-of-10 (50 percent) three-pointers as well as 8-for-10 (80 percent) from the charity stripe.
In the third quarter, the ENMU full court press was effective against the Lions, forcing four steals in a five minute stretch with Clay coming up with two while Cox and Jena Mehbrech each recorded one apiece. The Hounds outscored the Lions 15-5 during the stretch with Clay and Cox combining to score 11 of ENMU’s 15 to take their largest lead of the quarter at 52-30 with 4:55 left.
TAMUC found an offensive rhythm in the last half of the quarter as the Lions put together a 16-6 run over a four minute stretch to narrow the gap to 58-46 with 32 seconds remaining. Eastern strung together solid back-to-back possessions with Jones knocking down a jumper with 20 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Jones came up with a big defensive rebound and the Hounds made some excellent passes that led to a Clay fastbreak layup at the buzzer to stretch the ENMU advantage back to 62-46 going into the final period of play.
A pair of Commerce three-pointers in the first minute of the fourth quarter closed the gap back to 11 at 63-52 and managed to stay within 11 with just under seven minutes left.
Momentum swung back in favor of the Hounds when Cox nailed a three-pointer that ignited a 10-1 streak that was also capped off on a Cox three, expanding the ENMU edge back to 77-57 with 5:01to go.
The lead proved to be insurmountable for Commerce as Eastern secured the 90-79 win.
The ENMU offense continued to be efficient in the second half as the Hounds converted on 14-of-31 (45 percent) of their shots. The Hounds continue to do an excellent job on the glass as they outrebounded TAMUC by a 58-49 margin.
Clay led all scorers with 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting and continued to stay hot from the three-point arc, knocking down 2-for-3 and 8-of-12 of her free throw attempts to go with three steals.
Cox put together her best offensive game in her early career as the freshman guard scored a career-high 18 points on 5-for-9 shooting and 3-for-6 on three-pointers to go with a career-best seven rebounds.
While Lewis finished just a point short of a double-double against Tarleton State on Thursday, she managed to break the barrier against the Lions after scoring 14 points and ripped down a team-high 11 boards to go with a pair of blocked shots.
Jones put together one of her best all-around games of the season, finishing with eight points and a season-high nine rebounds while leading the team with a career-high six assists. Okey also chipped in eight points with a pair of three-pointers off the ENMU bench.
With the victory, the Hounds moved to 7-1 in conference play and continue to hold a tie for first place with Angelo State at the top of the LSC standings. It was a strong weekend for Eastern as the Greyhounds picked up their first two wins against regionally-ranked opponents in the South Central Region with a 73-67 win over No. 9 Tarleton State on Thursday and now a 90-79 victory over No. 7 Texas A&M-Commerce.
Eastern will have a short turn-around next week as the Hounds will prepare to host the top-ranked team in the region and nationally eighth-ranked West Texas A&M at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, presented by Big Valley Auto.
