Friday, December 12, 2014
CLOVIS, N.M. — Senior forward
Tori Tucker (Portales, N.M./Floyd HS/Howard College) hit a pair of free throws with just 11 seconds left, to seal a 74-70 win for the Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team (2-5) over last year's Heartland Conference champion, Texas A&M-International (4-3), Friday night at the Rock Staubus Gymnasium. The theme of the night was "Hoop it Up" and
Brittany Gutierrez (Jr., P, Gallup, N.M./Otero JC) did just that with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the team's first double double of the season.
The win improved Eastern to 2-1 against the DustDevils, with the last victory coming by an 89-75 score, on December 31, 2008. The win also avenged a 69-59 defeat, from last season. Eastern led for 34:35 of play and dominated the boards, 47-30, with a 10-8 lead on the offensive glass. A 75-52.6 advantage at the free throw line proved critical, as Eastern connected on 15-of-19 free throws in the second half, while Texas A&M-International hit eight-of-17 over the final 20 minutes.
After a few lead changes inly in the contest gave the DustDevils an 11-10 lead,
Shayla Williams (Jr., PG, Oklahoma City, Okla./Butler CC) converted a pair of fastbreak opportunities to ignite a 13-4 Zia run, which was capped by six straight points from
Sarah Stinnett (Jr., G, Fort Sumner, N.M./Howard College), to give ENMU a 23-15 advantage with 7:36 left in the opening half. TAMIU managed to pull within two points three times, before Alexis Thomas hit a three-point bucket with 2:51 on the clock to stake the visiting team to a 30-28 lead. After Jessica Prieto hit a jumper to double the DustDevil lead,
Jasmine Johnson (Sr., P, DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto HS) and
Jaylyn Cooper (Texico, N.M./Texico HS) hit shots to knot the score at 32-all and Williams hit a trey with 57 seconds left, to give Eastern a 35-32 edge at intermission
The buckets ignited a 12-2 run, which stretched into the second half and say the Zia take a 40-34 lead on Stinnett's trey with 18:57 to play. After an exchange of baskets, the DustDevils exploded on a 7-0 run and took a 45-44 lead on Keiona Matthews' fastbreak jump shot. Eastern quickly responded with an 11-1 run, fueled by nine points from Gutierrez, to seize a 55-46 lead with 8:57 left. A 10-3 run pulled A&M-International to within a basket at 62-60 with 4:41 to play, but the Zias hit eight free throws over the final 4:24 to seal the game.
Gutierrez set season highs in both points and rebounds and also finished with three assists. Stinnett added a season-best 19 points, five caroms and three assists, while Tucker contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and a blocked shot. Williams chipped in 10 points. Prieto paced A&M-International with 30 points.
The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team will return to action on Tuesday, when they host Northern New Mexico. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. MT.
Notes The game marked fifth time in seven games ENMU has led at halftime
Eastern has outrebounded the opposition five times in seven games
The Zias hit a season-best .466 from three-point range tonight
Over the final five minutes of play, ENMU shot 8-10 from the free throw line and did not allow a free throw over that period
ENMU allowed just one offensive rebound to the DustDevils over the final five minutes and two rebounds total over that stretch