Saturday, January 28, 2017
PORTALES, NM — The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team (15-4; LSC 11-1) bounced back from its first Lone Star Conference loss of the season in grand fashion, with a dominant 81-56 victory over University of Texas of the Permian Basin (6-12; LSC 3-9), Saturday at Greyhound Arena.
Brandi Gomez paced ENMU with a 15-point performance and the Hounds never trailed on the way to their eighth home win of the season.
ENMU improved to 3-1 against the Falcons and have won three straight meetings. Head coach
Josh Prock in his fourth season at Eastern became the third coach in program history to win 40 games and 25 LSC contests. The contest also marked the first time the Hounds reached the 80-point mark since an 84-76 win over Cameron on January 12.
"That's what we wanted to get back to; that's our MO, our defense," Prock said. "We knew we could dominate them on the boards. Our posts were definitely motivated today. It was just a great game all-around for us. Our shooters were locked in with Brandi and Sarina going 6-of-10 from the three-point line. I'm proud of everyone's effort."
"It starts with practice," said
Sarina Johnson. "Coach (Prock) is always pushing me and I appreciate that. It's all my teammates and the encouragement they give me. We play aggressively. We needed to win this one to get our confidence back up after the West Texas game on Thursday. We're always ready to come out and compete. I believe that WT game is what's going to give us a boost for the second half of the season."
The Turning Point
- A Briana Caro three-point bucket midway through the opening quarter pulled UTPB within three-points, 8-5
- Gomez drained a trey to ignite an 8-1 Greyhound run, and the Falcons only managed to pull within a single point on one more occasion the rest of the way
Beyond the Box Score
- After shooting .259 from the field on Thursday for 52 points, the Greyhounds responded with a .460 shooting performance and 81 points
- The Hounds have reached the 80-point mark four times this season and have won the rebound battle three of those times (twice by at least 20)
- Eastern improved to 4-0 this season when scoring at least 80 points
- The Greyhounds are 10-0 when leading at halftime this season
- For the second straight meeting with UTPB, Eastern got off to a fast start
- They led 28-9 after 10 minutes in the first meeting and 27-15 after the first quarter today
In the Numbers
- Eastern shot .423 from three-point range with Gomez and Johnson accounting for three treys apiece
- The Greyhounds held a 32-12 point edge in the paint and a 16-3 advantage on the fast break
- Daeshi McCants finished with 14 points, five rebounds and two blocks
- Johna McClelland had three blocked shots along with nine points and six rebounds
- Mikaehla Connor facilitated the offense with a career-best seven assists, along with eight points and five rebounds
- Johnson added 11 points, while Jasmine Hotchkins finished with eight
- Sierra LaGrande led UTPB with 15 points
- The Greyhounds were +20 on the boards and scored 16 second-chance points
"You can tell this team loves each other," Prock added. "They don't care who gets the ball. They just want to share the basketball. 18 assists this afternoon showed that."
Up Next
The Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball team will open a two-game road trip on Thursday at Tarleton State. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. MT.