Silver City, N.M. – Junior Jade Botelho had a hot shooting night as she scored 19 points but was not enough to push the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team past West Texas A&M last Saturday night as they fell short, 72-52.
As a team, the Mustangs shot 38 percent from the floor (24-63), 26 percent from three pointers (4-15) and were unable to get to the free throw line. The Buffs outshot WNMU as they hit 54 percent in field goals (29-53), 35 percent in threes (5-14) and 81 percent in free throws (9-11). In non-shooting categories, Buffs also held the edge in bench points 33 to 7 and points in the paint 44 to 22.
With her 19 points, Botelho went 9-23 from the floor and one for two from behind the arc. Senior Jordan Gutierrez followed next with nine points and also added five assists. Rebound leader with six was sophomore Megan Looney.
On the West Texas side, two players reached double digits; Lexy Hightower with 12 and Maddison Wild with 10.
WNMU has been in a slump lately as they have lost 14 games straight. Their last win came back on Nov. 26 after defeating Western State Colorado, 69-59. With an overall record of 4-15 and 0-12 conference record, Mustangs sit in last place in the Lone Star Conference.
Next Thursday and Saturday, Western hits the road as they face off with Texas A&M University-Commerce and Tarleton University. Texas holds a 15-6 overall record while Tarleton owns a 9-9 record. Both teams stand on an 8-4 conference record, making them tied for third in the Lone Star Conference.
The Lady Mustangs road trip will begin on Thursday as they head to Texas A&M University-Commerce with tipoff at 5:30 p.m. (CST) while Saturday’s game against Tarleton will tipoff at 2 p.m. (CST).
