PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team is prepared to host Texas Woman’s for its annual Youth Day game, presented by Clovis Media Inc. at 11 a.m. inside Greyhound Arena.
LAST TIME OUT
Playing their fourth game in eight days, the Greyhounds will be looking to bounce back from their first home loss of the season after dropping a 72-61 decision to No. 14 West Texas A&M in Tuesday night’s game presented by Big Valley Auto.
The Hounds grabbed the first lead of the game after a pair of Chelsea Hunter free throws, setting the score at 2-0. Both teams struggled to score early on as neither team could find the bottom of the net until the 5:15 mark, when WTAMU started a 19-6 scoring run to take an 11-point advantage late in the first quarter. The Lady Buffs led by as much as 16 with 8:31 to go in the third quarter and led by double-digits for most of the second half before Eastern mounted a strong rally.
Trailing by 11 with 5:38 left, Eastern strung together a 6-0 run behind an Alivia Lewis layup and a Treyanna Clay free throw before Jena Mehlbrech capped the run on a three-point play with 4:07remaining, trimming the West Texas lead to 55-50. However, the Greyhounds couldn’t climb any closer as the Lady Buffs converted on 13-of-15 free throw attempts in the final 2:24 to pull away with the win.
Clay and Mehlbrech led the ENMU scoring efforts with 13 points apiece while Lewis finished with a career-high 15 rebounds. Zamorye Cox and Shelby Jones recorded five assists apiece to lead the Hounds passing attack.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
Texas Woman’s enters the matchup with a 6-10 overall record and a 3-5 mark in LSC games. The Pioneers have struggled in the last six weeks after starting out the season 5-3 overall and 2-0 in conference games. The Pioneers had lost seven straight and five LSC games in a row before pulling out a 72-70 win over Cameron on a last second layup by freshman guard Macy Wilkerson in overtime last Saturday.
As a team, TWU is scoring at a 61.8 points per game clip this season and 60.4 ppg in Lone Star Conference games. Leading the Pioneers offensive attack is junior guard Carissa Moody at 14.2 ppg, shooting 46 percent from the field and is the team’s top three-point shooter with 29 makes at 34 percent. Moody is also one of the top rebounders in the Lone Star, ranking second in the conference at 9.1 rpg only behind ENMU’s Lewis at 9.9 rpg. Senior guard Bri’Anna Gray has provided the secondary scoring punch, recording 11.8 ppg and is one of the team’s top free throw shooters with 46 makes at an 84 percent mark. The passing attack is commanded by senior point guard K.J. Stastny with a team-best 38 assists.
HISTORY WITH THE PIONEERS
The Greyhounds have fared well against the Pioneers as of late as Eastern possesses a 31-22 record in 53 previous meetings and has won four straight against Texas Woman’s. The last time the two teams met in Portales was on Jan. 4, 2018, as the Hounds came up with a huge defensive stop on a last second shot by TWU to come away with a 58-56 win.
FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
The Greyhounds are hosting Texas Woman’s for their fifth annual Youth Day game. The Youth Day event brings in more than 2000 students from upwards of 10 local schools to pack Greyhound Arena. The inaugural game was held on Dec. 16, 2014, as 3218 were in attendance to watch the Hounds defeat Northern New Mexico 72-57. In the last four seasons, the event has had an average attendance of more than 2400, while the 2019 game is expected to bring in upwards of 2600.
The home court advantage and tremendous fan support has led to great success on the court, as the Greyhounds possess a 3-1 record in the four previous Youth Day games. In last season’s Youth Day game, the Hounds won a 67-61 overtime thriller over Texas A&M-Kingsville on Jan. 18, 2018.
FIGHTING FOR FIFTY
ENMU Head Coach Josh Prock will be looking to reach a coaching milestone on Thursday as a Greyhounds win would be his 50th Lone Star Conference victory. Currently in his sixth season as the Eastern Head Coach, Prock has compiled a 49-48 record in conference contests since the 2013-14 campaign. In the past three seasons alone, the program has thrived under Prock’s tutelage, amassing a 35-14 record in LSC contests, including the Hounds’ 16-4 LSC Championship mark in the 2016-17 season.
THE GREYHOUND ARENA ADVANTAGE
The friendly confines of Greyhound Arena has proven to be a valuable asset for the Hounds this season. Despite suffering a 72-61 loss to No. 14 West Texas A&M Tuesday night, Eastern has played very well on its home court this season. In eight home matches this season, the Hounds possess a 7-1 record and are outscoring opponents by an average margin of 77-61. The Eastern defense has made life difficult for the opposition as the visitors are only shooting 34 percent from the floor, 24 percent from the three-point arc and are committing 18 turnovers per game.
BRINGING UP THE BENCH
Sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech has provided some strong support off the Greyhounds bench in the last four games. Dating back to ENMU’s win at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Mehlbrech has scored 36 points (9.0 ppg) and is shooting 14-for-28 (50 percent) from the field as well as 7-of-9 (78 percent) from the free throw line. Mehlbrech was one of ENMU’s leading scorers against the Lady Buffs on Tuesday, scoring 13 points on 5-of-8 shots and a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe with 11 of her points coming in the second half.
