Women’s Basketball Holds on For First LSC Victory Over St. Mary’s

Women’s Basketball Holds on For First LSC Victory Over St. Mary’s

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball was able to edge out a win in the final seconds of a tightly contested game against St. Mary’s Thursday evening, knocking off the Rattlers with a 64-61 final.

The result gives Eastern a well-deserved Lone Star Conference victory, its first of the year, while pushing the squad to a 7-1 overall record. Sophomore point guard Zamorye Cox hauled in a career-high eight rebounds and set the pace offensively for the Hounds as she led the team with 17 points.

The Greyhounds defense was able to force St. Mary’s into 13 turnovers and were able to convert that into 16 points on the other side of the floor. Eastern relied on its height and athleticism the entire game, constantly feeding the ball into the post as the Hounds outscored their opponents 26-16 in the paint.

Junior post player Alivia Lewis recorded 14 points on a six for 12 shooting night and also corralled nine rebounds to go along with a pair of steals and a blocked shot. After cracking the starting lineup for the first time this season, junior guard Laura Rowe did not disappoint in her 25 minutes of action as she added 12 points and six rebounds.

The Hounds were able to overcome a scoreless two-minute stretch to begin the game as the High Plains squad knocked down 42.9 percent of its three-point attempts and jumped out to a 17-15 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

St. Mary’s was able to pressure ENMU into ill-advised shots in the second frame, as the Hounds shooting woes resurfaced. The Greyhounds went four for 18 as a unit during the final ten minutes of the first half as the Rattlers tied the game at 29 apiece entering the halftime break.

Eastern took over the game coming out of the locker room, rattling off ten unanswered points and led 42-33 with 2:21 left in the third. The Greyhounds pushed their advantage into double-digits with 4:25 remaining in regulation but St. Mary’s refused to give in.

Trailing by 12 points, the home team mounted a late rally and went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to a single point. Rowe was fouled and sent to the line with 22 second left in the game and buried both of her free throw attempts to give the Hounds some breathing room. St. Mary’s pushed the ball up court, trying to get a shot off but tough defense from Cox forced the Rattlers ball handler out of bounds to ice the game.

The Hounds will take a day off before facing St. Edward’s on Saturday at 1 p.m. as the squad will look to defend its No. 5 spot in the D2SIDA South Central Regional Rankings.