PORTALES, N.M. – Trailing by one with 0.2 seconds left in overtime, sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech was fouled and converted a pair of game-winning free throws to propel the Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team to a 79-78 victory over Texas Woman’s Thursday afternoon in Greyhound Arena.
The 2521 students, faculty, and staff members from 11 local schools in attendance for the fifth-annual Youth Day game, presented by Clovis Media Inc. got treated to a thrilling comeback win by the Greyhounds (13-5, 8-2 Lone Star Conference) in their first overtime game of the 2018-19 season.
ENMU got off to a strong start by opening the game on a 6-0 run off a pair of layups by Treyanna Clay and a Chelsea Hunter jumper with 7:53 left. Texas Woman’s (6-11, 3-6 LSC) fought back, taking its first lead of the contest on a pair of free throws by K.J. Stastny to make it a 16-15 game with 2:54 to go in the quarter.
On the following possession, junior guard Tilasha Okey gave the Hounds the lead back with a jumper off a Hunter assist, but the Pioneers closed out the quarter with a 5-0 run to make 21-17 TWU advantage.
Texas Woman’s stretched its edge to nine early in the second, opening the period with five unanswered to set the score at 26-17 with 7:15 left before Eastern put together an answer of their own. With 6:10 left until the half, freshman guard Zamorye Cox nailed a three-pointer to start an 8-0 Hounds run that was followed by a Shelby Jones jumper and three-point play to narrow the gap to 26-25 with 4:17 to go.
The Pioneers briefly stretched their advantage back to four before a Laura Rowe jump shot and an Alivia Lewis three-point play gave the Greyhounds a 30-29 edge with 1:35 left. A TWU jumper and a Jones free throw tied the score at 31, setting up Cox’s go-ahead jumper on a fastbreak with 33 seconds remaining to give Eastern a 33-31 lead going into the break.
The Greyhounds outshot the Pioneers 45-to-33 percent in the opening half, but TWU was able to keep the game close thanks to a 27-16 rebounding edge, including a 9-1 margin on offensive rebounds.
The Hounds were able to get off to a fast start in the second half as well, opening the third period with an 8-1 streak that was capped off on a Hunter three-point play at the 6:22 mark to hold their largest lead of the game at 42-32.
Eastern held at least a seven-point lead for most of the quarter, including a nine-point edge after a Cox fastbreak jump shot made it 50-41 with 1:46 to go. However, the Pioneers mounted a rally to end the quarter, trimming the ENMU edge to two at 50-48 with 26 seconds on the clock. On the Hounds final possession, Mehlbrech made a highly-contested layup in the paint with eight seconds left to set the score at 52-48 heading into the fourth period.
ENMU expanded its lead to seven at 57-50 following a Jones layup 1:38 into the fourth, but Texas Woman’s strung together seven unanswered over a two-minute stretch to tie the match up at 57-all with six minutes remaining. The two teams traded baskets to lock the game up at 59 before by a pair of scores from Clay and Lewis gave ENMU a four-point edge with just over three minutes left.
Texas Woman’s didn’t give up without a fight, stringing together seven straight points to reclaim a 66-63 advantage with 42 seconds left.
On ENMU’s ensuing possession, Lewis came up with a big time jumper at the top of the key to narrow the gap to one with 37 seconds to go before the Pioneers knocked down a pair of free throws with 26 seconds remaining to expand the lead back to three.
The Hounds once again came up with a huge answer on the offensive end on a long three-point shot from the left side with 18 seconds to go to tie the score at 68. Eastern came up with a big time stop on the following possession, but the TWU defense came up with a big stop of their own with two seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The two teams traded three leads and two ties through the first 4:15 of the overtime period with neither team taking more than a three-point edge. With the game deadlocked at 75 with 26 seconds left, Clay made a pair of free throws to give Eastern the two-point edge. However, with nine seconds left, TWU’s Ajine Taylor made a three-point play off a Hounds foul to give the Pioneers the 78-77 lead.
On the Hounds final possession of the game, Mehlbrech was fouled by TWU’s Taylor pulling up for a potential game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds on the clock. The 76 percent free throw shooter calmly knocked down both attempts to seal the Greyhounds victory.
Clay, the LSC Offensive Player of the Week last week had another outstanding game, leading the Eastern scoring efforts with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting and converted 9-of-10 from the foul line to go with three steals. The 23-point effort marked her second-best scoring output of the season and her highest mark in 10 conference contests.
Cox, who came up with many big shots for Eastern throughout game was solid both offensively and defensively after finishing with 14 points and tied a career-high four steals.
Lewis also provided a balanced offensive and defensive punch for the Hounds with 14 points on 5-of-11 attempts and went 4-of-5 from the foul line to go with eight rebounds and a career-best six blocks. The six-block mark is tied for the most blocks in a game since the 2002 season, knotting her up with Johna McClelland and Precious Herrin in the ENMU record book.
Jones finished just one board shy of her first double-double of the season, rounding out the double-digit scorers with a season-high 13 points and tied a season-best nine rebounds.
With the win, the Hounds wrapped up their four-game home stand in an eight-day stretch with a 3-1 record and moved into a tie for first place at the top of the LSC standings with Angelo State.
The Greyhounds will now have a week off before hitting the road to face Cameron on Jan. 31 at 4:30 p.m. and MSU Texas at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2.
