PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team will be tested in its final regular season home games of the season as the Hounds will face Texas A&M-Kingsville at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday before challenging No. 17 Angelo State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Hounds will host the Javelinas for Breast Cancer Awareness Night, presented by U.S. Bank. The team will be wearing pink jerseys while the coaches and staff will dawn pink apparel to pay their respects to breast cancer survivors. On Saturday, Eastern New Mexico will be celebrating Senior Day, presented by J.P. Stone Community Bank, as the Hounds will play the Rambelles in their final home game of the 2018-19 season. The Greyhounds will honor their three seniors, Treyanna Clay, Dasia Johnson, and Shelby Jones prior to the start of the game.
LAST TIME OUT
The Greyhounds returned home last week, picking up a big 76-57 victory over UT-Permian Basin on Feb. 7 before following it up with a hard-fought 59-44 win over Western New Mexico on Saturday.
Against the Falcons, the Hounds had to overcome a slow start when UTPB jumped out to a 9-2 advantage through the first 3:09. Eastern responded with a 19-2 run, not allowing a Falcons field goal for an 11:55 stretch until the 4:36 mark in the second quarter. UT-Permian Basin went 0-for-14 during the near 12-minute stretch as Eastern carried the momentum to hold a 31-19 edge at the halftime break. The Hounds put together one of their best offensive performances of the season in the second half, shooting 14-for-23 (60.9 percent) from the field, 5-for-10 (50 percent) from the three-point arc, and 12-of-15 (80 percent) from the free throw line to secure the victory.
The Greyhounds had to fight back from another cold start against Western New Mexico as the Mustangs held an early 11-3 edge with 4:08 left to go in the first quarter. Clay ignited the Hounds offense, scoring the last seven points of the quarter to close the gap to one after one quarter of play. After trailing by three with 5:03 left in the second period, Eastern wrapped up the second period with an 11-4 run to take a 29-25 lead into the halftime break. The Hound stretched their lead to as much as 12 in the third quarter before WNMU fought back to close the gap to six with three minutes left in the fourth. However, the Hounds were able to close out with nine unanswered as the Eastern defense held the Mustangs scoreless in the final three minutes.
SCOUTING THE JAVELINAS
Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the week with an 8-13 overall record and are currently battling for a Lone Star Conference Tournament spot, holding the No. 8 spot in the standings with a 5-9 conference mark. TAMUK is coming off a pair of losses last week, falling 78-61 at home to Angelo State before dropping a hard-fought 66-65 loss at Texas Woman’s where the Javelinas missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
The Javelinas currently post the second-lowest scoring margin in the league, scoring the third-fewest points per game at 61.0 and ranking second-to-last in points given up at 70.1 ppg for a -9.1 difference. TAMUK has struggled even more in league play, scoring 61.5 ppg, but are giving up 75.1 ppg for a -13.6 ppg differential.
Despite the Javelinas difficulties on the offensive end, they possess one of the top scorers in the league in junior guard Brynae Thompson, who is averaging 15.7 ppg on 42.2 percent shooting, 32.8 percent three-point shooting, and converts on 75.5 percent of her free throw attempts. The only other Javelina scoring in double-digits is senior forward Cloe Lane, putting up 11.3 ppg and is the team’s three-point shooter with 29 makes while also leading the team with 40 steals, tying her for the fifth-most in the league. Redshirt freshman forward Bri-Anna Soliz is the team’s leading rebounder with 147 at 7.0 rpg, tying her for the seventh-most in the LSC, but she has been even better on the glass in league games, averaging the third-most at 8.2 rpg. Junior guard Rachel Tapps is the team’s top passer, dishing out 35 assists at 1.9 apg.
HISTORY WITH THE JAVELINAS
Thursday’s game with Texas A&M-Kingsville will mark the 69th all-time meeting since the series inception in 1985. The Hounds hold an 8-4 record over the Javelinas under Head Coach Josh Prockand have won two of the last three meetings. The two teams faced each other once already in Kingsville on Jan. 12, as Eastern came away with a dominant 76-53 victory over the Javelinas, which was the largest margin of victory by the Hounds in Kingsville since a 94-51 win back on Jan. 23, 1993. The last time the two teams met in Portales, TAMUK managed to force overtime with a bucket to tie the game with 11 seconds left in regulation. The Hounds came out fired up in the OT period, putting together an 8-1 run to start and not allowing a Kingsville field goal until 46 seconds remaining to secure the 67-61 victory.
SCOUTING THE RAMBELLES
No. 17 Angelo State comes into the week with an 18-2 overall record and posts the top mark in the LSC at 13-1. The Rambelles won a pair of road games comfortably last week, defeating travel partner Texas A&M-Kingsville 78-61 before going to Denton and picking up an 82-51 win over Texas Woman’s.
While Angelo State posts the third-best scoring mark in the conference at 76.8 ppg, the Rambelles have been tough on the defensive end, giving up just 58.7 ppg for the best scoring differential in the LSC at 18.1. The Rambelles have also been strong in league play, outscoring opponents by 16.5 ppg.
Leading the offensive charge for ASU is senior guard Marquita Daniels, who is scoring at a 15.4 ppg clip, the fourth-best in the LSC on 41 percent shooting. Daniels has not only been a huge contributor in the scoring department, but she also distributes the ball well with a team-leading 74 assists at 3.9 assists per game, ranking fifth in the league. Daniels also playing strong defense with an LSC-leading 57 steals at three steals per game. The Hounds will also need to be weary of reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week De’Anira Moore, who comes into the matchup with a 15.0 ppg scoring average and is converting on 56 percent of her shots and commands the team-lead with 7.7 rpg, the fourth-most in the Lone Star. Moore has also caused problems for opposing teams with team-best 23 blocks, the eight-most in the conference.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMBELLES
Angelo State and Eastern New Mexico will be challenging each other for the 70th time since the first matchup in 1985. The Hounds will be looking to turn the tide against Belles, as ASU has won four straight against ENMU. The Greyhounds fell to Angelo State in the previous meeting in San Angelo on Jan. 10, as Eastern struggled from the floor in the first quarter to find themselves down by 14 after one quarter of play. The Hounds couldn’t slow down the red hot Rambelles in the second half, as ASU scored 45 points on 48.6 percent shooting to secure the win. In last season’s meeting in Portales, the Greyhounds fought back from an 18-point halftime deficit to close the gap to three with 24 seconds left, however, the Rambelles were able to hold off the Hounds to eventually pull out the 62-59 win.
SENIOR SENDOFF
Saturday’s game in Greyhound Arena will be the final home contest for three highly accomplished players in Treyanna Clay, Shelby Jones, and Dasia Johnson. In her lone season with the Greyhounds, Clay has been the team’s leader on the offensive end, posting the most points (341), minutes (657), free throw makes and attempts (115-for-150) and steals (43) so far this season. In four seasons with the Greyhounds, Jones has put together a strong career, scoring 426 career points, 360 rebounds, and is currently putting together a career season in the assist category with 49, the second-most on the team. While missing most of the season due to injury, Johnson has been a staple of the Hounds program for four seasons. A three-year starter with the program, Johnson’s 187 career assists ranks as the seventh-most in the past 20 seasons. Prior to her injury this season, Johnson led the team 39 assists and shot a blistering 12-of-25 (48 percent) from the three-point arc as well as recorded 14 steals.
CLIMBING TO THE TOP, APPROACHING A MILESTONE
With six Lone Star Conference games to go, Clay has climbed to the top of the conference in scoring with 238 points in 14 league games, averaging 17.0 ppg, one point ahead of WTAMU’s Lexy Hightower for the league lead. Clay has done a lot of damage from the free throw line, converting 88-of-111 (79.3 percent) in LSC contests. Clay has 28 more makes and 44 more free throw attempts than the next closest players. Clay this season has scored a career-high 341 points and between her lone season with the Hounds and the three previous seasons at NCAA Division II Iona College, she has recorded 928 career points, just 72 points shy of the 1000-point milestone. Clay is also currently just
FROSH DISHES
Freshman point guard Zamorye Cox put together a career-week last week against the Falcons and Mustangs. Cox, the current team-leader with 75 assists, recorded 15 in the two games last week, including finishing just shy of a double-double with 11 points and a career-high nine assists against UT-Permian Basin. The nine-assist effort tied for the ninth-most in a single game in the past 20 seasons and was the most since Jasmine Hotchkins tallied nine against Western New Mexico on Jan. 3, 2017.
SWARMING DEFENSE
Last week, the ENMU defense put together some stifling defense against UT-Permian Basin and Western New Mexico. Against the Falcons, Eastern rallied from a 9-2 deficit by holding UTPB without a field goal for 11:55, stringing together a 19-2 run during that stretch to capture the lead and hold a 31-19 edge going into halftime. The Hounds held the Falcons to 33.9 percent shooting and 26.1 percent from the three-point arc, which included 21.4 percent from the field and 12.5 percent from three in the first half. In the Western New Mexico game, the Hounds held the Mustangs to 44 points, tying the second-fewest points ENMU has allowed in a single game this season, as well as 27.3 percent from the floor, the third-lowest percentage of the season as well as forced Western into committing 22 turnovers, 15 of which came in the first half.
