Gaining steam

PORTALES - Teams having special seasons, teams looking like championship contenders usually have at least one game of the gut-check, character-building variety throughout the course of a season.

Check all of the above for the Eastern New Mexico women's basketball team. The Greyhounds are title contenders in the Lone Star Conference, and needed to bag Thursday's home game against LSC foe Tarleton State to burnish that contender status. And despite trailing almost the entire second half, Eastern rallied late and won 73-67, improving to 11-4 overall and 6-1 LSC as of Thursday.

"Our focus this week has been toughness," ENMU head coach Josh Prock said. "To win close games you've got to be mentally and physically tough. And I thought our team was the tougher team down the stretch. We made some plays that you have to make to get the win, got the stops. People see the offense; defensively, we got stops at the end."

"It was a pretty big win for us," Eastern senior post Treyanna Clay said after scoring a team-high 15 points to go with a block and a steal. "Especially because it was a home game. We're trying to stay undefeated at home, and this makes a statement that we're a good team at home."

Yet despite the friendly confines of Greyhound Arena on Thursday, Eastern trailed 37-36 at halftime and fell down by four when Tarleton's Kaylee Allen buried a trey to begin the third-quarter scoring. It wasn't long before Eastern faced a 48-39 deficit.

They pecked away, though, and it was just a 54-50 Tarleton advantage late in the third quarter, a period Eastern's Jena Mehlbrech ended in style by canning a trey that brought her team within one.

Tarleton stretched to a 57-53 lead on Katie Webster's baseline jumper, and the TexAnns maintained a lead throughout most of the fourth quarter, though never by more than four points.

Tarleton was clinging to a 60-59 advantage just outside the quarter's four-minute mark, when a Shelby Jones layup gave Eastern its first lead of the second half.

Tarleton surged back in front, 63-61, when McKinley Bostad completed a three-point play from the foul line, but Clay scored on a strong inside move to tie it. And after Bostad and Clay exchanged baskets yet again, the game was knotted at 65.

Clay put Eastern ahead by one on a foul shot with 2:09 remaining, and a bit later increased the margin when she spun around a defender for a layup and was fouled in the process. Her free throw gave the Hounds a 69-65 lead with 51.9 seconds left.

Nina Alvarez pulled Tarleton within two on a pair of free throws with 41.3 seconds to play in the fourth. But the remainder of offense came from Eastern, starting with a clutch left-corner three from Portales graduate Zamorye Cox and a Jones free throw after she was intentionally fouled.

ENMU had squared off against adversity and squashed it, like championship contenders tend to do. The Hounds may be dealing with even more adversity after losing senior guard Dasia Johnson to injury during their recent road stretch. As of Thursday night, Johnson's status was unclear.

"I can't really talk about it," Prock said, "because it's an injury."

Overall, the Greyhounds had powered through, despite any deficit or injury they faced.

"I think we're getting tougher every day," Prock said, "and I'm proud of these kids. Very, very proud of their effort."

"I think we're in a good spot right now," Clay said. "We're not where we should be and we're obviously getting better every day and we're playing better every day. But I think right now we're in a good spot."