It was a struggle for either team to make a basket throughout the night, but Colorado Mesa University made just enough to get past the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team 55-43 Friday night in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action.
With 115 shots attempted by the two teams, only 35 made it through the basket. WNMU (7-14, 5-11 RMAC) held CMU (13-7, 10-6 RMAC) to just 20-59 (34) from the field, but could only counter with a 15-56 (27) effort.
Junior Jada Grady helped the Lady Mustangs seize the lead nearly two minutes in with a three-pointer for the 5-3 advantage. The Mavericks took control the rest of the opening quarter going on a 13-5 run to take a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.
The game looked to be going the way of CMU as they quickly built the lead to 13 at 26-13 with 6:01 to play in the first half.Senior My’Kale French connected on a jumper a few minutes later that had the deficit down to seven and WNMU ended up trailing by just nine, 32-23 at the break.
The second half had the Lady Mustangs thinking comeback after a 9-2 run had the deficit down to just two. Down by nine, sophomore Jade Botelho helped start the 7-0 run with a running jumper in the paint. Junior Desiree Smith added a layup and turned it into a three-point-play as she was also fouled. Botelho closed the run that she started with a layup off the fastbreak leaving CMU with the 34-32 advantage.
The Mavericks answered with a 6-0 run over the next six-plus minutes to open a 40-32 lead.
WNMU finally broke the scoreless stretch with free throws by junior Tessa Jones and junior Jordan Gutierrez to make it a five-point contest with 2:29 left in the third quarter. CMU added two more points to their lead to take a 44-37 lead into the final quarter.
Junior Deandra Williams converted a jumper in the paint three minutes into the fourth quarter to bring WNMU back to within eight, just to watch CMU go on an 8-0 run to put the game out of reach. The Mavericks ratcheted up the defense in the fourth quarter outscoring WNMU 11-6 to take the win.
Smith and Williams went for a team-high nine points. French grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
Bryanna Adams led CMU with 15 points, while Jaylyn Duran added 14 points. Erika Musante grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
CMU held a 47-37 advantage on rebounds, while WNMU held the edge on points in the paint (22-18).
WNMU will close the weekend tomorrow (Saturday) night at 5:30 p.m. when they host Westminster. The Griffins came back to defeat New Mexico Highlands, 75-68, earlier tonight
