Home stretch starting for Hounds

PORTALES - The Eastern New Mexico women's basketball team will be home for the holidays.

In this case, the pre-holidays, too.

ENMU has just two games left before breaking for the holidays and will play both games at Greyhound Arena. Eastern (7-2, 1-2 Lone Star Conference) hosts a pair of LSC foes this week - University of Arkansas Fort Smith on Thursday (5:30 p.m.) and Oklahoma Christian on Saturday (2 p.m.).

The Greyhounds will end their year - and their decade - with two important games. And they get to do so in friendly confines.

"Yeah, that's nice," Eastern head coach Josh Prock said. "It's only our second and third home games of the season, so it's nice to be in front of our fans before the holidays. And hopefully we'll be able to pick up two wins."

It's actually a three-game homestand for ENMU that concludes on Jan. 4 against West Texas A&M. UAFS (4-5 overall) is first of the three and will come in with the same 1-2 conference record as Eastern.

Both UAFS and ENMU enter Thursday's action on modest losing streaks. Fort Smith is on a two-game skid after a 100-56 loss at Drury on Dec. 6 and a 74-63 defeat at Oklahoma Christian last Saturday. Eastern comes in on just a one-game losing streak after falling 78-70 to new LSC rival St. Edward's last Saturday in Austin.

UAFS and Oklahoma Christian bring two more new rivalries Eastern's way, starting with Fort Smith, that can pack a wallop according to Prock, led by their top two scorers - junior guard Paige Elston, averaging 11.4 points per game and freshman guard Ashanti Eden, averaging 10.1.

"Very athletic team," Prock said of UAFS. "They're going to run and jump and pressure you like crazy. They're a team that likes to run, definitely likes to use their athleticism and score. They're very well-coached, they do a good job."

And how best to beat that team?

"We've got to handle the pressure," Prock said, "because they're going to get out and pressure you. You've got to make the plays that are given. Defensively, you can't give them any extra possessions. Offensively, execute our offense; they do a good job of trying to take you out of your stuff."

Thursday's game is in the early evening and Saturday's in the afternoon, which isn't the only night-and-day difference between UAFS and Oklahoma Christian, according to Prock.

"They're two totally different teams," Prock said. "Oklahoma Christian is going to be more 2-3 zone, they try to spread you out. ... If you're going to beat them you've got to be able to really guard the three-point line."

Another difference is that Oklahoma Christian may be undefeated in the Lone Star by Saturday's tip-off. The Eagles will carry a 3-0 LSC record into Thursday's road game against West Texas A&M in Canyon, Texas. In fact all the Eagles' victories so far have come only against LSC teams; they're 3-4 overall.

Oklahoma Christian has two double-digit scorers - junior guard Maddison Collyer (12.0 points per game) and junior forward Katie Mayo (11.6 ppg).

Eastern is led in scoring by junior post Alivia Lewis (12.0 ppg), followed by sophomore guard and 2018 Portales High graduate Zamorye Cox (11.4) and senior post Natalie DeLonge (10.3).

The Greyhounds head into their final two games of 2019 doing fairly well in the medical category.

"We're battling a few nicks and bruises here and there," Prock said, "but for the most part we're pretty healthy."