Trailing by 13 at the break, the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team found their groove in the third quarter outscoring the Eagles by 10. Although the rally brought the Lady Mustangs close, they weren’t able to get over the hump in the final frame as Chadron State College took the 61-53 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.
Sophomore Jade Botelho came out aggressive for WNMU (6-10, 4-7 RMAC) as she led the team with 19 points on 9-16 shooting. CSC (5-10, 5-6 RMAC) countered with a strong inside game from Maka Daysh who posted a monster double-double with 22 points and 20 rebounds.
The Lady Mustang defense was strong throughout most of the game forcing 23 turnovers and turning that into a 19-7 points off turnovers advantage.
The first quarter was tight with WNMU finally moving in front by three at the 2:48 mark with a layup off the fastbreak by Botelho for the 11-8 lead. The Eagles then took control the rest of the way going on a 9-2 run to open a 17-13 lead through the first 10 minutes.
Jada Grady and Kenzie Rinehart began the second quarter with authority as they both connected on three-pointers to push the Lady Mustangs back in front at 19-17. It ended up being the Eagles’ quarter the rest of the way as they closed the half on a 21-6 run to open a 38-25 lead at the break. CSC held 6-0 edges on both points in the paint and points off turnovers in the quarter.
The second half was a different story. The Lady Mustangs responded out of the break and made things interesting down the stretch.Still down 13 at the 5:57 mark of the third quarter, Desiree Smith got the Lady Mustangs going with a three. Botelho then cashed in a steal by Jordan Gutierrez with a fastbreak layup at the other end. A Smith layup at the 4:01 mark had the deficit down to just six, 43-37.
The Lady Mustang attack kept coming with Botelho posting four straight points and then free throws by Smith had the lead at just one, 44-43, with two minutes to go in the quarter. The Eagles were able to salvage the lead out of the quarter as they hit the final shot to take a 46-43 lead into the fourth. WNMU held an 18-8 advantage in the quarter. WNMU dominated points in the paint (8-2), points off turnovers (9-0) and fastbreak points (6-0) in the quarter.
Rinehart opened the final frame strong with a jumper 13 seconds in. The Eagles always seemed to find a way to come up with big plays to stay in front and they found a way again. Erin Graham, Daysh and Emma Block came through with big points over the next few minutes to move the CSC lead back out to six at 51-45. Smith and Gutierrez wouldn’t let the lead stretch any further as they hit back-to-back buckets to trim the deficit back to two at 51-49 with 5:17 to play.
WNMU kept chipping away, but they would get no closer than two points the rest of the way. Grady had the Lady Mustangs to within three with two minutes to play when Allegria Chisom hit a tough jumper in the paint for the Eagles on the ensuing possession to move their lead back to five.
Gutierrez responded with a jumper 25 seconds later to leave CSC with a 56-53 lead. After a WNMU miss that could have brought the lead down to one, the Eagles were able to split a pair at the line to move in front by four. With 40 seconds left, WNMU went with a three by Smith, but it rattled around and out leaving CSC with the rebound. They would cash in more free throws to hold off the Lady Mustang rally.
Smith also reached double-figures in scoring going for 11 points and also added five rebounds and five assists. Deandra Williams brought down a team-high seven rebounds. Daysh went just 4-12 from the field, but went 14-18 from the foul line. Of her 20 rebounds, eight came on the offensive end. Graham also had a big game going for 16 points on 6-11 shooting.
CSC went 19-52 (37) from the field and 4-15 (27) from three-point range. They made up for that with a 19-27 (70) effort at the foul line. WNMU countered with a 23-69 (33) effort from the field and 4-11 (36) from three. They went just 3-5 (60) from the foul line.
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WNMU will hit the road this coming week as they will play at Fort Lewis College on Friday and Adams State University on Saturday. Both games are slated for 5:30 p.m. starts.