Zias earn LSC tournament bid despite loss

Incarnate Word couldn't find the range from 3-point distance for virtually the entire game Saturday. When the Cardinals desperately needed one, they got it on a fortunate bounce.

Junior guard Katie Novak had her shot bounce high of the rim and fall through with 1:04 left in regulation — ending the team's 0-for-12 performance to that point — then senior guard Katy Cooke forced overtime by hitting a trey — on her second attempt of the possession — with 28 seconds to go.

UIW got a three-point play from 6-foot-2 junior center Rose Whitehead with 22 seconds left for its only lead in the OT and escaped with a 64-61 Lone Star Conference women's victory over Eastern New Mexico University on Saturday at Greyhound Arena.

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

Squeezed along the baseline, ENMU freshman Jaylyn Cooper passes to teammate and sister Jordyn Cooper during the second half of Saturday's game at Greyhound Arena.

Senior guard Ashlyn Green, the Cardinals' leading scorer, tallied 15 of her team-high 17 points in the second half as UIW (16-8, 12-6 LSC) remained tied for fourth in the conference with West Texas A&M. She also had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

"I felt like Ashlyn Green really stepped up for us, getting to the basket," UIW associate head coach Kate Henderson said. "We didn't do what we needed (early on defense), but when we switched to a 3-2 (zone), that's what got us back in the game."

Despite the tough loss, the Zias (7-19, 6-12) clinched the eighth seed for the LSC tournament when Texas Woman's lost to Angelo State 58-52.

Still, it wasn't enough to make ENMU second-year coach Lindsey Wilson happy.

"We just didn't play well in the second half and overtime," she said. "We had too many mental breakdowns and we didn't execute."

The Zias got big games off the bench from freshman post Nelsha Peterson, with a season-high 24 points and 11 rebounds, and junior guard Alexa Candelaria with 10.

Candelaria broke a 17-17 tie with back-to-back 3-pointers in the first half and the Zias led rest of the way until Green tied it.

ENMU lost senior guard Tara Johnson to a right knee injury early in the second half. Her status for the team's remaining two regular-season games was not immediately known.

While it looks like Incarnate and WT will be the 4-5 seeds in the tournament and play each other in the quarterfinals, Henderson said it was a nice win coming off a loss to the Lady Buffs on Thursday.

"This is the time of year you just want to be playing your best basketball," she said. "Any road win is always good."

Whitehead finished with 13 points for UIW.

Wilson said the Zias need to bounce back, with games left at Tarleton State on Wednesday and at home against Texas A&M-Commerce on Saturday to end the regular season. They still have a chance to move past Commerce and up to a No. 7 seed in the tournament.

"We have one week left," she said. "We just have to take care of business."