PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team is preparing to travel to Oklahoma City for a 12 p.m. non-conference battle against Oklahoma Christian on Monday.
LAST TIME OUT
The last time the Greyhounds were in action was back on Dec. 8 at home against Northern New Mexico. The Hounds picked up their biggest win of the season in a 104-44 victory over the Eagles. Leading by 16 at the halftime break, Eastern came out and dominated the second half, outscoring NNMC 61-17 to run away with the victory.
As a team, the Hounds shot 41-70 (59-percent) from the floor, including 63-percent in the second half, while also converting on 10-of-16 (63-percent) from the three-point arc. ENMU had a completely balanced scoring attack in the contest with seven players reaching double-figures, led by junior guard Tilasha Okey with a career-high 19 points.
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Oklahoma Christian enters the weekend with a 5-5 record and will play a pair of games against Southern Nazarene on Friday and Kansas Christian on Saturday before taking on the Hounds on Monday. The Eagles are led by one of the top scorers in NCAA Division II in senior guard Addy Clift, ranking seventh in the nation with a 24 points per game average. Clift is converting on 29-of-88 (33-percent) of her three-point attempts while also shooting a red-hot 65-for-76 (86-percent) from the charity stripe. Clift is also one of the team’s top defensive players, leading the team with 22 steals while also ranking second on the team at 3.1 assists per game.
Sophomore forward Katie Mayo is the only other player averaging double-figures for OCU with 13.7 ppg while leading the team in rebounds (55, 5.5 rpg) and blocked shots (15, 1.5 bpg). Sophomore guard Maddison Collyer spearheads the team’s passing attack, averaging 4.9 assists per contest.
HISTORY WITH THE EAGLES
The Hounds and Eagles are meeting for the first time.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
The 104 points scored by the Greyhounds in their last game against Northern New Mexico was the most points scored by a Josh Prock coached team in his six seasons with the program. It set the eighth-most points in a single game over the course of the 45-year history of the ENMU program. The last time the Hounds scored more than 100 points in a game came on Jan. 2, 2012 when Eastern scored a program-record in a 122-100 win at Oklahoma Panhandle State. The 60-point margin over the Eagles was also the fifth-largest margin of victory over any team in program history. The last time an ENMU team defeated an opponent by more than 60 points came on Feb. 23, 1983 when Eastern defeated Rockmont College 113-20.
BALANCING ACT
Despite scoring 104 points against Northern New Mexico, no one player scored more than 20 points in the contest and seven Greyhounds scored in double-digits. Okey led the scoring efforts with 19 points and was proceeded in the scoring column by freshman guard Zamorye Cox (14), senior forward Treyanna Clay (13), sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech (13), senior guard Dasia Johnson (12), senior forward Shelby Jones (12), and freshman guard Briana Rodriguez (12).
DOUBLING DOWN
Clay became the second ENMU player to record a double-double this season against Northern New Mexico. With 13 points and 11 rebounds, she joins sophomore forward Alivia Lewis, who turned in 11 points and 13 rebounds in the Hounds 80-64 win against MSU Texas on Nov. 29.
PERFECT PERFORMANCE
Okey not only scored a career-high 19 points in the Hounds last game, but she did not miss a single shot as she was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field and 5-for-5 from the three-point arc. The last Greyhound to make five three-point field goals in a game came on Jan. 20 when Brandi Gomez converted on 5-of-10 from the three-point arc in a 62-59 loss at home to Angelo State.
NATIONAL RECOGNITION
The Greyhounds moved up in the D2SIDA South Central Regional Poll this week, making the jump from seventh to No. 5 after receiving 30 votes, just three votes back of Tarleton State for fourth while finishing a vote ahead of Black Hills State. The Hounds are also starting to get some national recognition as well, as Eastern received four votes in the WBCA NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll this week.
