Game Recap: Women’s Basketball | 2/20/2020 6:55:00 PM | Zac Alfers
Women’s Basketball Starts Game Off Hot Before Falling to #3 Texas A&M-Commerce
Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball saw its early lead dissipate as the Hounds fell 73-70 to #3 Texas A&M-Commerce Thursday evening.
Despite having a tremendous size advantage in the post, the Hounds struggled to get off easy shots from their bigs down low and were outscored 42-26 in the paint. To combat the height mismatch, the Lions constantly pushed the pace in transition and finished with 25 fast break points while holding the Green and Silver to just one.
Both teams came to play defensively as neither of the two squads were able to shoot better than 40 percent from the field with TAMUC knocking down 26 field goals compared to 22 from the Hounds. Commerce was able to build on their lead from the free throw line as the Hounds connected on 12-of-19 attempts from the charity stipe while the Lions shot an efficient 17-for-20.
Senior Natalie DeLonge turned in a huge double-double performance with 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while also tallying three blocks. Redshirt freshman Natalie Stice added 14 points including three made three-pointers and matched LSC steals leader Zamorye Cox as each player swiped three steals apiece.
The Lions were able to win the battle on the boards, outrebounding the Greyhounds 45-38 in a showdown between the top two rebounding teams in the conference. Eastern had a tough time creating consistent offense from their role players and were outscored 27-4 off of the bench.
The Hounds jumped out to an early 10-4 lead following the opening tip sparked by a three-pointer from Stice on the left wing and capped off by a driving layup from DeLonge. After the first quarter, the Hounds held on to a slim 15-14 advantage.
The momentum shifted in the second frame as the Lions outscored the Greyhounds 20-10 and continued to add to their lead through out the second half despite a valiant effort from Eastern who battled to get back into the ball game.
With the LSC conference less than two weeks away, the Hounds will look to get back into the win column and climb the league leader board this Saturday as they travel to UT Tyler.
