COMMERCE, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico women's basketball team had to fight back from a 14-point second half deficit, but the Hounds comeback effort was thwarted by Texas A&M-Commerce 62-55 on Thursday night.
In a matchup of two top 10 teams in the NCAA Division II South Central Region, it was the Lions (17-8, 12-5 Lone Star Conference) that utilized a big second half surge and prevented the Hounds (18-7, 13-4 LSC) from rallying back for a second straight double-digit deficit win.
After falling behind 4-0 in the first three minutes of the first quarter, the Eastern responded with a 6-1 run on buckets by Alivia Lewis, Jena Mehlbrech, and a pair of Treyanna Clay free throws to take their first lead at 6-5 with 4:20 left in the first quarter.
The Greyhounds and Lions traded the lead three more times before Commerce extended its lead to three on an Alexis Bryant turnaround jumper with 24 seconds left in the period. On the Eastern's final possession of the quarter, Shelby Jones was able tip Tilasha Okey's miss in at the buzzer to narrow the gap to 13-12 heading into the second period.
The Lions pushed their advantage to as much as five with 7:12 to go until the halftime break before Eastern rebounded with nine unanswered, capped off on a Clay three-pointer from the left side to give ENMU its largest lead of the contest at 23-19 with 4:30 left.
Commerce put together a strong response of their own, scoring the next seven points to reclaim a 26-23 lead with 28 seconds to go, but Zamorye Cox was able to knock down a running layup from the left side, beating the buzzer and sending the Hounds into the half with just a one-point deficit.
Cox's momentum carried over into the start of the third quarter when she buried a three-point bomb from the right wing to give Eastern its only lead of the second half at 28-26. Back-to-back buckets by TAMUC pushed the Lions back in-front before Jones hit an equalizer on a turnaround jumper in the paint with 6:43 to go to knot the game up at 30-all.
Momentum swung in favor of the Lions midway through the third period when they scored seven straight until Kamirah Decker snapped the streak on a jumper from the right side to make it a five-point game at 37-32.
It didn't stop the Lions for long as back-to-back three-pointers within another 8-0 run pushed the Commerce advantage to 45-32 with 2:30 to go in the third period. The Lions extended their edge to as much as 14 on a three-pointer with 1:56 left, but consecutive scores from Lewis and Chelsea Hunter narrowed the gap to 48-38 after three quarters of play.
TAMUC extended its advantage back to 14 midway through the third quarter, but the Hounds didn't go down without a fight. Eastern closed the gap to six on a pair of Clay free throws with 42 seconds left to set the score at 59-53, however the Greyhounds could climb no closer as the Lions held on for the 62-55 win.
Eastern struggled from the floor, converting on just 20-for-63 (31.7 percent) shot attempts and 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from the three-point arc. Eastern's free throw shooting was able to keep the Hounds in the game as the Greyhounds knocked down 12-for-13 (92.3 percent) from the charity stripe, including 10-of-11 in the second half.
Clay had a strong game offensive and defensively for Eastern, scoring a game-high 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three and converted on 6-of-7 from the foul line. Clay also finished with eight rebounds and led the team with four steals, three assists and a pair of blocks. Jones was the only other Hound in double-figures, breaking the double-digit barrier for the third straight game with 12 points on 5-of-11 from the floor.
Hunter and Lewis led the ENMU rebounding efforts with 10 boards apiece while Cox tallied three assists to tie Clay for the team-lead.
With the Lions defeating the Hounds, Eastern fell to third in the Lone Star Conference standings, a game behind West Texas A&M and Angelo State for first and a game ahead of Commerce in fourth.
Eastern will be seeking a big bounce back win on Saturday as the Greyhounds will travel to Stephenville, Texas for a 1 p.m. matchup against Tarleton State, who is right behind the Hounds as the No. 7 ranked team in the South Central Region.