PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico women's basketball team is set to open the LSC Tournament this weekend as the fourth-seeded Hounds will take on No. 5 seed Texas A&M-Commerce in the first round.
A four-day tourney being played at the Commerica Center in Frisco, Texas, the Hounds will play the Lions at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. With a win, Eastern would face the winner of the West Texas A&M/Texas A&M-Kingsville game at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the LSC Semifinal. The LSC Championship game is scheduled for Sunday with a 2:30 p.m. tip-off.
The first round game is a vital one for the Greyhounds as ENMU is seeking its second NCAA Division II South Central regional berth in three seasons. The Hounds currently hold the No. 7 spot in the South Central region rankings and are one spot ahead of their counterparts in the first round, Texas A&M-Commerce.
LAST TIME OUT
In the Greyhounds final game of the regular season, Eastern snapped a three-game losing streak with an important 71-63 win at Texas Woman's. After getting off to a slow start, trailing 12-9 after the first quarter, Eastern surged ahead in the second by outscoring the Pioneers 22-12 to take a 31-23 edge into the halftime break. The Hounds led by as much as 13 in the second half to pull away with the road victory.
Senior forward Treyanna Clay led four Hounds in double-figures with 17 points, while Zamorye Cox chipped in 14. Jena Mehlbrech added 11 points off the bench while Alivia Lewis added her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Texas A&M-Commerce enters the Lone Star Conference Tournament as the No. 5 seed with a 19-9 overall record and a 14-6 mark in conference play. The Lions are currently the eighth-ranked team in the NCAA Division II South Central region, one spot behind the Greyhounds. TAMUC makes its way into the tournament as winners of four of their last five games with their only loss coming at home to the top-seeded West Texas A&M.
The Lions are rated as the third-best scoring offense in the LSC, averaging 75.5 points per game but are second in league games with a 75.8 ppg average, only behind Angelo State. Commerce is outscoring their opponents by 11.4 ppg (3rd in LSC) while also outrebounding opponents by 7.9 rebounds per game (2nd in LSC).
Redshirt senior guard Princess Davis leads a balanced TAMUC scoring attack, averaging 13.1 ppg but has been better in LSC play at 14.4 ppg (8th in LSC). Davis is also the team's primary offensive facilitator, ranking first on the team and second in the Lone Star Conference with 131 assists (4.7 apg). Chania Wright is the only other Lion averaging in double-figures, scoring at a 12.9 ppg clip while also leading the team in three-point shooting this season (59-of-165, 35.8 percent). Agang Tac is the squad's best rebounder with 179 rebounds (6.4 rpg) as well as shot blocker (25 blocks).
SEEKING REVENGE
The Hounds will be looking to exact revenge on the Lions as the two teams last faced each other in Commerce, Texas on Feb. 21. In that game, TAMUC held off a strong Hounds comeback to pull out a 62-55 win. Earlier in the season when the Hounds hosted Commerce in Portales on Jan. 19, it was a much higher scoring affair as ENMU tallied the third-most points in a single game this season in a 90-79 victory. The Hounds lead the all-time series against the Lions with a 34-30 record, but Friday's match will mark just the third time ever that the two teams have met on a neutral floor. Eastern has a 2-0 record against Commerce in neutral site games, with the last win coming on Mar. 5, 1993 in Abilene, Texas by a score of 98-84.
TURNING THINGS AROUND IN THE TOURNEY
Eastern will be seeking its first LSC Tournament victory under Head Coach Josh Prock as well as its first tourney win since the 1995-96 season. The last time the Greyhounds won an LSC Tournament game came in a 73-72 barn burner against Central Oklahoma in the first round on Feb. 27, 1996 in Canyon, Texas. The Hounds will be looking for a better result at the Comerica Center the second time around as Tarleton State ended the Greyhounds season by a score of 83-61 in the first round of the LSC Tournament last season.
ALL-CONFERENCE CLOUT
Senior forward Treyanna Clay took home some major prizes during the Lone Star Conference Awards Banquet on Wednesday, as she was named the LSC Newcomer of the Year while also being named to the All-LSC First Team and All-LSC Defensive Team. Clay has had a banner year for ENMU as she scored the most points of any player from the LSC during the regular season (457 points) while finishing as the second-best scorer in league games (354 points, 17.7 ppg). Clay also set a mark in the ENMU record books when she made 17-of-20 free throws in the Hounds loss to Texas A&M-Commerce, breaking Jennifer Poyer's ENMU single game record of 15 set during the 1990-91 season. Clay also scored her 1000th career point on the very same night.
Sophomore forward Alivia Lewis took home two awards after being named one of just five players to earn LSC All-Academic Team accolades while also earning All-LSC Honorable Mention. Lewis led the Lone Star with 251 rebounds (9.0 rpg) while also finishing third in the league in blocked shots (47, 1.7 bpg). Lewis was the Hounds third-best scoring option during the regular season, scoring 227 points (8.1 ppg) and recorded a team-leading five double-doubles.
In her final season with the Greyhounds, senior forward Shelby Jones earned All-LSC Honorable Mention accolades. Jones was a force on the offensive and defensive end for the Hounds during the 2018-19 season, ranking second on the team in assists (61, 2.2 apg), second in blocks (17), third in rebounds (158, 5.6 rpg), and fourth in points (189, 6.8 ppg).
