The Eastern New Mexico women’s basketball team defeated Arkansas-Fort Smith 60-49 Thursday night in the team’s Lone Star Conference home opener.
The Hounds move to 8-2 overall with a 2-2 mark in LSC play after using a 20-point fourth quarter to carry the High Plains squad to victory over the Lions in the two team’s first ever meeting. Junior post player Alivia Lewis tallied her third double-double of the season after scoring a game-high 18 points on a nine for 11 shooting night and also secured 11 rebounds.
Eastern’s defense came up big yet again and forced UAFS into 24 turnovers while the Hounds tallied 12 steals and nine blocks as a team. ENMU’s post players were tremendous on the block all game long and outscored their opposition 38-28 in the paint.
Following some sloppy play from both team’s the Hounds settled in and broke up the tie ball game thanks to a layup from sophomore Kamirah Decker. Both sides shot 46.2 percent from the field in the first quarter of play, connecting on six of their 13 attempts but a pair of free-throws from the Greyhounds were the only difference as the home team led 14-12 after the first ten minutes of play.
A three-pointer from junior Laura Rowe would spark a 10-0 run for the Hounds and they would use that momentum to secure a 27-19 advantage by halftime.
The Lions were able to trim the deficit to a single point midway through the third quarter as the Hounds led 29-28 but would not relinquish their lead for the remainder of the game.
With 2:05 remaining in regulation Lewis corralled an offensive rebound and went right back up with it, converting the layup to extend the Hounds lead to 13, the largest of the contest. ENMU outscored the Lions 20-14 in the final quarter of play and relied on its relentless defense to close out the game.
The Green and Silver return to the hardwood inside Greyhound Arena on Saturday when they face LSC newcomer Oklahoma Christian at 2 p.m.
