Hounds slip past TexAnnd

PORTALES — With a win over West Texas A&M last week, the Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team overcame a huge hurdle, beating the Lady Buffs in Canyon for the first time since 1981.

Never satisfied, Saturday saw the Greyhounds (6-2, 4-0 LSC) overcome yet another obstacle, knocking off Tarleton State for the first time since 2007, winning at home 73-68. The Texanns (4-5, 3-1) had beaten Eastern in 19 consecutive meetings heading into the matchup.

Led by Kassandra Harris with 16 points and nine rebounds, Johna McClelland also turned in a 14 points and seven rebounds performance while Amari Dennis added 12 points. For Tarleton, Mackenzie Hailey led all scorers with 26 points.

With 13 first-half turnovers and a frantic assault on the offensive glass by the Texanns, Eastern found itself down by as many as nine points in the second quarter. Staving off a rout, the Hounds composed themselves to cut the deficit to only two by the time the half-time buzzer sounded.

Coach Josh Prock said, “It’s (turnovers) something we need to work on. We just didn’t handle the pressure very well, especially in the first half. But I was very proud of the girls, the way they came out in the second and handled it well.”

Coming out of the locker room renewed, the Greyhounds full court press started to pay off, creating enough opportunities to keep Eastern in the mix heading into the fourth.

Harris said, “Well it’s just important for us to finish games and as a senior I take that as my personal job that I come out and play as hard as I can, so my team can rally around me and we can all start to get going.”

Down 54-50 with seven minutes remaining, timely back-to-back and-ones by Dennis and Harris gave the Hounds a lead, one which they would never relinquish. After trading scores for the next several minutes, Tarleton found themselves forced to foul, sealing the game for ENMU.

When asked about the teams finishing ability, McClelland said, “At the end of games its all about your heart and I think we had the bigger heart tonight. I think we had the bigger hearts tonight. In the fourth quarter you have to be strong, you have to push, and I feel we did that and got the job done.”

Eastern will hit the road on a quick turnaround, traveling to Division I Texas-Arlington in a 4 p.m. tipoff today to start a three-game road swing.