Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sports writer
By her standards, Tori Tucker had an unusually quiet first half — no points and only one shot attempt for the leading scorer on the Eastern New Mexico University women’s basketball team.
The senior forward took over in the second half, though, scoring six of her game-high 17 points during an 11-2 run which helped give the Zias control for good in a 72-57 win over scrappy Northern New Mexico at Greyhound Arena.
The game, billed as “youth day” by ENMU, attracted an announced crowd of 3,218 — probably 95 percent of whom were area grade school and middle school students.
ENMU used a 12-0 surge over three minutes to build a 22-7 lead, then saw the NAIA Division II Lady Eagles (8-3) recover to lead twice by four points early in the second half.
ENMU coach Josh Prock said Friday’s riveting 74-70 win over Texas A&M International at Clovis High’s Rock Staubus Gym gave the Zias (3-5) some confidence.
“It was a fun atmosphere,” he said, referring to the noise generated by the youngsters. “I think that win Friday helped the girls understand how to close out a game.”
In contrast to the opening half, Tucker went 7-for-7 from the field in the final 20 minutes.
“I wasn’t as aggressive in the first half,” she said. “In the second half, we just needed to go, so I took it upon myself and everyone else stepped up.”
Junior guards Sarah Stinnett, Jordyn Cooper and Shayla Williams all added 11 points for ENMU.
Cooper got all of hers in seven minutes off the bench in the first half. “We’re going to need her,” Prock said.
“She didn’t play a lot in the second half (two minutes), but sometimes you just go with the flow.”
Stinnett and junior post Brittany Gutierrez hit 3-pointers in the first two minutes to stake ENMU to a 6-0 lead. Cooper scored eight points in the 12-0 run, but the Lady Eagles battled back to make it 32-28 at halftime.
“I think Eastern’s a great basketball team,” second-year NNMC coach Jack Ballard said.“They wore us down (late), but think their coaches had some great answers for us in the last 10 minutes. “I thought our girls did a fantastic job for about 30 minutes.”
Tucker said she wasn’t that worried when the Zias fell behind. “I knew we were the better team,” she said.
“The thing we’ve gotten better at lately is putting teams away.” ENMU shot a season-best 50 percent from the field (26-of-52), including 8-of-20 from 3-point range.
Meantime, NNMC had no one in double figures, with sophomore guard Krishia Artieda leading the team with three 3-pointers and nine points off the bench — all in the first half.
The Zias have two toughies coming up with early starts in Florida this week, facing host Florida Southern at 11 a.m. (MST) on Thursday and NCAA Division II No. 15 Tampa at noon (MST) on Friday at Lakeland, Fla. Both are members of the Sunshine State Conference.
