ENMU women claim second home win in a row over WT

It's a rare case when Eastern New Mexico University's women beat rival West Texas A&M, much less blow the Lady Buffs out.

On Saturday, the Greyhounds appeared on their way to doing just that before WT found its stride. Down 21 points early in the second half, the Lady Buffs tied the score with under two minutes left, but junior forward Ishuana Hunter's 3-point play with 1:30 to go switched the momentum and ENMU prevailed 71-70 in Lone Star Conference women's basketball at Greyhound Arena.

It was the Hounds' second win in a row at home over WT, having beaten them 68-62 last season.

Freshman Daci Smith of Roswell made a free throw with 50 seconds left for a four-point lead. WT got a basket from junior guard Karley Motschenbacher, then forced a turnover and sophomore guard Hollie Stalder made the second of two free throws with 13 seconds left.

After a timeout, the Lady Buffs regained possession on a held ball, but senior guard Ashley Shipley stole a pass in the closing seconds to preserve the win – ENMU's 18th all-time in 98 series meetings.

"At the end of the day, we struggled to string together stops," Hounds coach Blake Huber said. "We finally made (Motschenbacher) go left (on the last possession), and she threw the ball away."

Hunter finished with team highs of 24 points and six rebounds for ENMU (6-10, 2-8 LSC), while senior guard/forward Deja Adrian chipped in 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Senior guard Jamila Nansikombi-Gunter added 12 points.

"We came together (late in the game)," Adrian said. "I'm glad we stuck together.

"I hope (the win) gives us a little momentum. Hopefully, we can get on a run here."

Motschenbacher led all scorers with 25 points for WT (10-8, 5-5), shooting 11-for-13 from the floor, while Stalder added 15 points and junior post Jayla Burgess scored 12.

ENMU shot 51 percent for the game (29-of-57), including 59 percent in the opening stanza when they used runs of 8-0 and 15-4 to open a 23-14 lead at the quarter.

Another 8-0 surge made it 42-23 late in the half, and the margin grew to 48-27 early in the third period.

WT cut it to 11 points by quarter's end, then closed to 62-60 midway through the fourth. Freshman guard Jaz Salon's 3 gave ENMU some breathing room, but the Lady Buffs pulled even on Stalder's shot from the left wing with 1:44 remaining.

"Give them credit; they played well," said WT and former ENMU women's coach Josh Prock. "It's a 40-minute game, and we've got to play better.

"We just didn't play well. There's lots of things you can attribute it to, but we've just got to play better."

WT did shoot 56 percent (30-of-54), and turned the ball over just three times in the second half after committing 14 in the initial two stanzas. In the end, the Hounds had just enough to hang on.

"Our kids really battled," Huber said. "We don't have a lot of depth. We got up 21 and I think we relaxed a little bit."

Smith, who has started the last three games for the Hounds, finished with two 3-pointers and seven points. She hit a big one early in the final canto to at least temporarily stymie WT's momentum.

"Daci has stepped up," Adrian said. "She made the right plays and she's helping lead us."

After splitting a four-game homestand, the Hounds hit the road this week for conference games at Texas A&M International on Thursday and Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday.