Big second half lifts ENMU women past St. Ed's

AUSTIN, Texas — Junior guard/forward Deja Adrian and sophomore guard Bella Stone combined for 42 points and Eastern New Mexico University’s women pulled away to a 76-56 victory over St. Edward’s on Thursday night in the Lone Star Conference opener for both teams.

Adrian notched her third 22-point outing of the young season while Stone added a personal-best 20 for the Greyhounds (3-2 overall), who broke away from a 31-31 halftime tie by blitzing the Hilltoppers 28-11 in the third stanza.

In the men’s contest, St. Ed’s built a 21-point halftime lead and handed ENMU a 91-63 setback.

The Hilltoppers (2-5) led 12-7 late in the opening stanza of the women’s tilt, but the Hounds pulled even 13-13 on a 3-pointer by junior guard Ashley Shipley. St. Ed’s led 18-16 at the quarter before ENMU went on a 7-0 lead to take its first lead of the night on a jumper by senior forward Laz Saunders, two free throws from Stone and a three-point play by senior forward Edecia Beck.

St. Edward’s was still in front 37-35 early in the third, but Stone’s 14 points helped the Hounds put together a 33-9 charge that carried into the final stanza, including a 12-0 run to get it started. Freshman guard/forward KiKi Roberts’ buzzer-beater from the paint made it 59-42 heading into the final canto.

A layup and a 3-pointer by Adrian capped the run and gave the Hounds their largest cushion of the night at 68-46 with 7 1/2 minutes remaining.

Stone also finished with team highs of eight rebounds and five assists, while Shipley added a third double-digit scorer with a season-best 11 points, including 3-of-5 from long range.

Junior guard Ronnie Cantu paced the Hilltoppers with 12 points, while junior center Bella Muscoreil added 10 points off the bench. The Hounds forced 27 turnovers to 16 of their own, and held a 24-6 margin in points off turnovers.

“We stayed the course and did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, only committing three turnovers,” ENMU women’s coach Meghan De los Reyes said. “Bella Stone ignited us in the third (period) … and the momentum carried us through the rest of the game.”

ENMU posted its largest margin of victory in the brief series, which it now leads 3-2, and earned its first win over the Hilltoppers in Austin.

Men — Senior guard Grehlon Easter scored ENMU’s first seven points to stake the Greyhounds to a two-point lead after 3 1/2 minutes, but it was all Hilltoppers after that as St. Mary’s shot a season-best 60 percent from the floor (35-of-58).

St. Ed’s opened a 49-28 lead at the break, forcing the Hounds (5-2) into 10 first-half mechanical errors. Senior guard Eke Dike scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in less than seven minutes to start the second half, but the Hilltoppers (6-1) kept pace and still led 66-44 at that point.

The loss snapped the Hounds’ five-game winning streak.

“This was enlightening for our team,” ENMU men’s coach Brent Owen said. “We have 12 guys who experienced the Lone Star Conference for the first time.

“You can talk about how good the league is and how good we need to be all you want as a coach, but to experience it is the best teacher. I expect this game to help us in the long run.”

Six-foot-8 junior forward Mason Hix led four Hilltoppers in double digits with 18 points, while sophomore guard Blake Nielsen came off the bench for 17. Also, junior guard Jeff Gary and 6-8 freshman forward Sean Elkinton finished with 12 and 10, respectively.

Only Easter, with 18 points, joined Dike in double figures for the Hounds, who hurt themselvesf with 8-for-22 free throw shooting.

ENMU squads were back in action on Saturday against St. Mary’s in San Antonio. They are off all this week except for a 5 p.m. women’s non-league tilt against Northern New Mexico at 5 p.m. on Saturday, slated for The Rock in Clovis.

The Hounds open the home portion of their LSC slate against Texas-Tyler on Dec. 15 and against Dallas Baptist (men) and Texas Woman’s (women) two days later at Greyhound Arena.