Thursday, January 22, 2015
                                                                                                                      
DENTON, TEXAS — The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team (6-10; LSC 2-4) has shown resiliency over its three-game Lone Star Conference road trip, twice overcoming double digit deficits to take the lead. On Thursday night at Kitty Magee Arena, Eastern rallied from an 11-point deficit against Texas Woman's University (12-6; LSC 5-2), but dropped a 63-61 decision. Junior forward Tori Tucker (Portales, N.M./Floyd HS/Howard College) paced ENMU with 20 points and five rebounds.
 
The Pioneers have won three straight meetings with the Zias, with Eastern's last win being an 80-70 decision at Kitty Magee Arena. Eastern held a 45-37.3 percent edge in shooting percentage, but Texas Woman's finished with a 14-1 lead on the offensive boards, which translated to 9-1 advantage in second-chance points. The contest was a wild affair with seven lead changes and six tie scores.
 
A jumper from Toree Mason with 9:58 to play staked TWU to a 50-40 lead, but a trey from Tucker ignited run of 14 consecutive points from Eastern, for a 54-50 lead with 4:39 to play. Tucker scored eight points during the run, while Jasmine Johnson (Sr., P, DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto HS) had five points. The Pioneers battled back to tie the game on a pair of free throws from Kenesha Saygo, but Johnson's layup with 2:48 left gave ENMU a 56-54 edge. Saygo scored the next four points, followed by a pair of free throws from Emily Spector to give Texas Woman's a 60-56 lead with 1:35 on the clock. Over the ensuing 1:12, Eastern scored five consecutive points and seized a 61-60 lead on a pair of Johnson free throws, with just 17 seconds left. Spector connected on a three-point shot with 11 seconds remaining to lift TWU.
 
Neither team could sustain momentum in the opening half, although the Pioneers snapped a 22-all tie on a Spector trey with 4:14 left to explode on a 14-3 run and seize a 36-25 lead, with less than a minute on the clock. Cassidy Doherty (Jr., G, Folsom, N.M./Melrose HS) hit a three-point bucket, to cut the halftime deficit to eight points. The Pioneers would push their lead to ten points twice in the second half, before the Zias rallied.
 
Eastern stepped to the free throw line a season-high 28 times, while TWU stepped to the charity stripe 15 times. The Zia defense also matched its top performance of the season with just 22 field goals allowed (set against Western New Mexico and Texas-Permian Basin). Johnson contributed 18 points on a five-for-six performance from the floor. She also pulled down seven boards and stepped to the free throw line a career high 13 times. Spector paced TWU with 20 points and 10 caroms.
 
The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team will return to home on Saturday, when they play Tarleton State. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. MT.
 
NOTES
Tori Tucker has reached the 20 point eight times as a Zia and Eastern is 4-4 in those games