Thursday, February 18, 2015
                                                        
PORTALES, N.M. — Much like Tuesday night, the final second decided Thursday's Lone Star Conference contest at Greyhound Arena, as Texas Woman's (14-11; LSC 7-7) edged Eastern New Mexico University (9-15; LSC 5-9), 64-62 on a basket with just four seconds left. Seniors Tori Tucker (F, Portales, N.M./Floyd HS/Howard College) and Jasmine Johnson (Sr., P, DeSoto, Texas/DeSoto HS) combined for 30 points and nine rebounds after being honored in the Senior Night pregame festivities.
 
The wild game featured nine lead changes and 10 tie scores, with Eastern leading for 28:50 of play. Eastern posted a 5-6 record at home, this season.
 
Sarah Stinnett (Jr., G, Fort Sumner, N.M./Howard College) scored the first five points of the game, followed by a Tucker trey, to give ENMU an 8-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. The Pioneers would not take their first lead until an Erin Maxwell layup with 9:57 left in the period gave them a 12-10 advantage. The action went back and forth until a Johnson layup ignited a 13-4 Zia run, for a 32-20 lead with 2:31 to play in the half. The Pioneers scored the final five points of the period and trailed 32-25 headed into the locker room.
 
Eastern opened the second half with a layups from Brittany Gutierrez (Jr., P, Gallup, N.M./Otero JC) and Stinnett to take the final double digit lead of the game at 36-25, but Texas Woman's put together a 16-2 run over the next 4:20 of play, for a 41-38 lead on a Maxwell jumper. Eastern quickly responded with an 11-0 run, fueled by three treys from Tucker, for a 49-41 lead with 12:32 to play. The game was tied four more times, with the final coming on a Tucker jumper with 19 seconds left. Andrea Mapua hit a short jumper with four second left to give TWU the win.
 
The Zias enjoyed a 13-5 lead in fast break points, but the Pioneers held a 32-24 lead in points scored in the paint. Tucker finished with 21 points, four rebounds, two assists and a pair of blocks, while Johnson added nine points and five boards. Stinnett contributed 17 points and eight boards, while Gutierrez had six points and seven caroms. Jaylyn Cooper (Jr., G, Texico, N.M./Texico HS) had nine points and six rebounds. Mapua paced TWU with 14 points and five rebounds.
 
The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team will return to action on Saturday, when they visit Tarleton State. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. MT.