PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team returns home this week to start a four-game home stretch against UT-Permian Basin on Thursday before taking on Western New Mexico on Saturday.
Thursday’s Greek Night game presented by San Juan Village Apartments is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip while Saturday’s 60s Night presented by Pizza Hut is slated for a 2 p.m. tip-off. On Saturday, Eastern New Mexico will be honoring the 50-Year Anniversary of the 1969 NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship Team.

LAST TIME OUT
The Greyhounds split a pair of tough road games last week, first coming away with a hard-fought 68-67 win at Cameron on Jan. 31 before falling 75-71 to MSU Texas on Saturday.
In the Cameron game, the Hounds came up with a pair of big defensive stops in the final minute. Sophomore forward Alivia Lewis was able to convert a go-ahead free throw with 19 seconds left to give ENMU its second consecutive win from the free throw line.
Eastern wasn’t so fortunate against MSU Texas as the Hounds had to fight back from a 17-point halftime deficit after the Mustangs opened the game by shooting 69 percent from the floor in the opening half. The Greyhounds managed to battle back to make it a one-possession game on a Zamorye Cox three-pointer with 12 seconds left to make it 73-71. However, MSU was able to put the game away from the foul line to seal the Hounds’ fate.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
UT-Permian Basin comes into the week with a 3-17 record and are last in the Lone Star Conference at 0-12. The Falcons have struggled offensively during the 2018-19 campaign, averaging 56.3 points per game and just 53.4 ppg in LSC games, ranking last in the conference in each category. UTPB ranks eighth in the league in scoring defense, giving up 67.0 ppg and are seventh-best in LSC games at 68.0 ppg.
Senior forward Khali Pippins-Tryon leads the Falcons scoring efforts as the only player on the squad averaging double-figures at 12.6 ppg and is their top defender with 43 steals, possessing the third-best steals per game ratio in the league at 2.2 spg. Junior forward Lemia Ntor-Ue is UTPB’s most efficient scorer, pouring in 9.4 ppg on a 45.9 percent shooting percentage. Redshirt sophomore forward Juliette Akinwole is the team’s leading rebounder with 108 boards at 5.8 rpg while senior guard Sarah Bersang leads the team’s passing efforts with 57 assists.

HISTORY WITH THE FALCONS
Since the inception of the UTPB women’s basketball program in 2006, the Hounds and Falcons are entering their eighth all-time meeting. Eastern has controlled the series since their first meeting in 2008, winning five of the previous seven all-time meetings. The two teams have had some tightly contested games the past two seasons with the last three games being decided by six points or less. They have already played each other once this season in Odessa, Texas back on Jan. 5, as the Hounds were able to pull away late by making 6-of-8 attempts from the free throw line in the final 1:09 to come away with the 61-55 victory. Senior forward Treyanna Clay led the Hounds with a team-high 12 points and five assists in the contest. The Greyhounds will be seeking to avenge a 68-63 loss to UT-Permian Basin the last time they played in Portales back on Nov. 30, 2017.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Western New Mexico enters the week 7-12 overall and a 3-9 record in LSC contests. Much like the Falcons, the Mustangs have struggled on the offensive end this season with the second-lowest scoring average overall in the conference at 57.0 ppg as well as a 57.2 ppg clip in conference games. Despite Western’s scoring troubles, the Mustangs are a sound team defensively, ranking second in the Lone Star at 62.2 ppg and fourth in league games at 64.7 ppg. WNMU has been a strong fourth quarter and overtime team this season, outscoring opponents 337-318 in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Sophomore guard Cassandra Vickery commands the team’s scoring offense at 10.6 ppg on 42 percent shooting, leading five players averaging 9.4 ppg or better. Vickery is the team’s top passer with 33 assists at 1.6 apg. Senior forward Tatyanna McFarland commands the rebounding efforts for the Mustangs, ranking third in the Lone Star with 154 boards at 8.6 rpg. On the defensive end, redshirt junior guard Sara Lopez leads the Mustangs with 33 steals.

HISTORY WITH THE MUSTANGS
Saturday’s game marks the 30th all-time meeting between Eastern and Western dating back to the series inception in 1977. The Greyhounds possess a commanding lead in the all-time series with a 21-8 mark against the Mustangs and have won 10 of the last 12 since 1997. In their previous meeting back on Jan. 3 in Silver City, the Hounds avenged a 60-59 loss the year prior with a 58-46 victory. While the Mustangs led 17-15 after one quarter of play, the Eastern defense buckled down in the second quarter allowing just seven points in the second quarter to take a 31-24 edge into the halftime break. While Western New Mexico rallied back to take a brief one-point edge with 5:22 to go in the third quarter, the Greyhound ran away late in the third and early in the fourth with a 17-1 run to come away with the win. Clay led the Hounds with her third double-double on the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

BLOCK PARTY AT THE LEWIS RESIDENCE
Sophomore forward Alivia Lewis has continued to dominate in the paint for the Greyhounds this season defensively. The Albuquerque, N.M. native a game removed from tying the most blocks in a single game since 2000 with six against Texas Woman’s, followed it up with a five block performance in the 68-67 win at Cameron on Jan. 31. Lewis’s final block happened with the game tied at 67 with 49 seconds left, giving possession back to the Hounds as she would later convert on the game-winning free throw on the ensuing possession to give the Hounds the win. So far this season, Lewis ranks second in the Lone Star with 42 blocks, the fourth-most in the program since 2000. Lewis is currently 20 blocks behind Precious Herrin’s 62 blocks set in 2011-12 for the most blocks in the last 20 years and if she can record five blocks in the next two games, she can tie Elizabeth Richard’s second-best mark of 47 set in the 2006-07 season.

PASSING PRESENCE
In the absence of senior guard Dasia Johnson the past 11 games due to injury, another senior in Shelby Jones has significantly stepped up in creating opportunities for her teammates. The forward from Clovis, N.M. is currently second on the team with 47 assists, but in the last five games alone, Jones has dished out 22 assists at a 4.4 apg clip. Despite the team suffering a 75-71 loss at MSU Texas last week, Jones recorded a career-high eight assists, five of which came during the Hounds dramatic comeback effort in the second half.

COX’S CAREER DAY
Jones wasn’t the only player setting a career-best mark in the Hounds’ loss at MSU Texas as freshman guard Zamorye Cox also set a career-best mark. In just her first season with the Greyhounds, Cox became just the second ENMU player this season to reach the 20-point mark, as she converted on 8-of-13 shots and went 4-for-7 from the three-point arc, which included a three-pointer to close the Eastern deficit to 73-71 with 12 seconds left in the contest. Cox has provided some additional scoring for the Hounds in conference play, averaging 10.5 ppg in 12 LSC games while also dishing out a team-leading 38 assists at 3.2 apg.

CLAY LOVES CONFERENCE PLAY
While Cox’s offensive numbers have went up dramatically in conference play, so has Clay’s. The forward from Tucson, Ariz. has scored 201 points in 12 LSC games, averaging the third-most points per game in the LSC at 16.8 ppg and is one of just two players in league play to score more than 200 points. Clay has been on a tear of late, scoring 20-plus points in the last three games and in four of the last five dating back to the win against Texas A&M-Commerce.