ENMU girls make national tour

PORTALES - For the Eastern New Mexico women's basketball team, Sunday night's viewing party at Greyhound Arena had to feel like waiting for Christmas Day, as region after region found out its Division II national tournament fate while the Green and Silver fans waited.

Finally, the South Central Region showed up on the screen, and a small cheer emanated when the Greyhounds learned they'd made the 64-team field for the second time in three years.

The Greyhounds (19-10) received the South Central's No. 8 seed, and will head to Canyon, Texas, for a 1:30 p.m. MDT Friday first-round matchup against top seed and region host West Texas A&M.

Greyhound coach Josh Prock revealed to the crowd following the selection show that he was a member of the South Central's seeding committee, and knew Eastern's fate before he scheduled the short-notice viewing party but had to keep it secret.

Only two members of the 2016-17 remain on the roster - guard Dasia Johnson and forward Shelby Jones - and Johnson hasn't played

"It was pretty cool; it was something I'd never done," Jones said of that 2017 game - an 89-73 loss to UC-Colorado Springs at Pueblo, Colorado. "It was much different from a state tournament, for sure. It was always great to be in the state tournament, but the NCAA tournament is just a different level."

Playing that game at a familiar court won't change that, said Jones, who now has the additional caveat that a loss ends her college career.

"The atmosphere is different," Jones said. "You're going to see '2019 NCAA Championships' on the banners. It gives you a different adrenaline rush."

Prock said coaches who were on the seeding committee weren't allowed to weigh in at all when their teams were involved, but felt before and during the meeting the Greyhounds would make the bracket.

"If you look at our body of work, we had a really good shot," Prock said. "We had big wins, and in one of the toughest conferences in the country we went 14-6."

The Greyhounds went 18-9 against Division-II opponents. All 27 of those games were played against South Central teams. They finished fourth in the Lone Star Conference regular season at 14-6, and fell to Texas A&M-Commerce in the first round of the conference tournament. Five teams from that LSC field made the regionals.

The Lady Buffs swept the Greyhounds in the LSC regular season, winning 72-61 at Greyhound Arena Jan. 22 and 67-60 in overtime Feb. 26 at Canyon.

"I'm excited," Jones said of the matchup. "I want to play WT. We went down there and lost to them in overtime. We had it won, until Lexy Hightower hits a 3. That gave them all the momentum in overtime. We have a chip on our shoulder. We definitely want to give WT a run for their money."

Friday's winner advances to a 4 p.m. MDT Saturday second-round matchup with either No. 4 Angelo State or No. 5 Westminster, also at WT.

Because WT is hosting both the men's and women's South Central regionals, a split bracket format is included with the lower half of the bracket playing at second-seeded Colorado Mesa.

Tuesday's regional championship will be held at the home site of the highest-remaining seed.

That means if the Greyhounds upset the Lady Buffs and their second-round opponent, they'd give themselves a likely longer road trip to either Colorado Mesa, No. 3 Lubbock Christian, No. 6 Tarleton State or No. 7 Texas A&M-Commerce.

That, Prock said, would be a fantastic tradeoff.

"We'll play anywhere," Prock said.

Regional champions will advance to Columbus, Ohio, with the Elite Eight set for March 26, semifinals March 27 and the title game 5 p.m. March 29.