Greyhound depth keys win

PORTALES - Playing a team missing half (eight) of its roster and its coach, mostly due to COVID-19 protocols, it took Eastern New Mexico University's women a while to get a handle on things Thursday night at Greyhound Arena.

In the end, ENMU's depth made the difference and the Greyhounds pulled away to a 77-61 Lone Star Conference victory over St. Mary's.

Senior guard Iyanna McCurdy was on pace for a triple-double at halftime - 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists - in only the third home game of the season for the Hounds (6-6, 2-4 LSC). She finished with 18 points and 13 caroms.

"We were glad to be playing at home," said McCurdy, a transfer from Division I Southeast Missouri State who comes from Philadelphia. "Our plan for every game is to just communicate and win the rebound battle.

"I try to stay aggressive. I need to finish (shots) a lot more and that's something I'm working on."

The game matched the Rattlers' length inside against the Hounds' physical strength. ENMU managed a 50-46 advantage on the glass and outscored the Rattlers 42-26 in the paint.

"I thought in the second half we did a better job of taking care of the basketball," first-year ENNU coach Meghan De los Reyes said. "That (paint points) was one of the keys to the game."

Another key, she said, was working inside-out, helping free up shooters when the defense collapsed. ENMU went 7-of-18 from 3-point range, with sophomore guard Natalie Stice going 3-for-8 and senior guard Anasha Hurst 2-for-2 from long range.

"We want to have an inside-out game," De los Reyes said. "Once we get it inside, we can get some shots from outside."

McCurdy, who added four assists to her night's work, played three years at Southeast Missouri State, but she tore her Achilles as a senior and then missed a year due to COVID.

She had planned to finish her college career at an NAIA school in the Chicago area. But while she was waiting to hear from that school, De Los Reyes, looking for players, contacted her and convinced her to come to ENMU.

"I knew I had one year left," McCurdy said. "I didn't want to not play and then regret it later."

Senior post MeMe Amand added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Stice finished with 13 points and junior post Kamirah Decker collected 11 points and eight boards off the bench.

St. Mary's scored the game's first five points, but ENMU countered with a 9-0 run and, except for two brief ties in the second quarter, led the rest of the way.

ENMU got its lead up to 10 for the first time when sophomore guard Natalie Stice hit a pair of free throws with 1:15 left in the third period, but the Rattlers closed it to four heading into the final stanza.

The Hounds wasted little time putting the game out of reach, going on a 9-0 run to start the period. Reserve guard Julia Chavez scored all nine of her points in the quarter, while Decker added six.

Junior guard Sydney Hardeman had five 3-points and 19 points for the Rattlers, while senior forward Hannah Wilson had 13 points and 19 rebounds. Wilson became the school's all-time leader in rebounds with 1,035, surpassing the 1,020 for Kiara Etheridge (2013-17).

Assistant coach Liz Boyd ran the team in the absence of coach Jason Martens.

Thursday's men's game was postponed and attempts will be made to reschedule it. ENMU squads were slated to host St. Edward's in games on Saturday afternoon.