Silver City, N.M.- Last Friday night was Senior Night, as both teams struggled offensively but the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team were able to snug by New Mexico Highlands University (4-23, 2-20 RMAC) to get the win, 58-48.
The Mustangs limited the Cowboys 14-54 (25) in overall shooting and 2-16 (12) in three point shooting.
On the other hand, WNMU had trouble shooting also by only hitting 22-74 (29) in field goals and 5-19 (26) in three pointers.
Begging the first quarter, Mustangs saw themselves in a quick 3-0 deficit but a Jordan Gutierrez three pointer tied the game back up, 3-3.
With 5:35 remaining in the quarter, Jade Botelho for WNMU nailed a pair of free throws to put them on top 5-4.
Both teams went back and forth throughout the quarter but the Mustangs found themselves with the lead at the end of the quarter, 12-11, when Jayla Brown converted on both of her free throws.
The second quarter was just the same as the first with both teams exchanging leads.
NMHU looked as if they were going to go into halftime with the lead, but Gutierrez again found the bottom of the net from three point range which gave WNMU the lead back 27-25 to finish the half.
The Mustang came out of the gate hot to start the third quarter by going on a 11-0 run to make their lead 38-25.
Crawling their way back was the Cowboys with 1:15 left in the quarter to cut their deficit to eight, 44-36.
However, the Mustangs were able to go into the fourth quarter with the lead 46-37.
In the fourth, NMHU were able to push to within four when converting on a jumper in the paint but Cristiana Yepa for WNMU answered back with a layup to put the lead back up to six, 48-42.
It was all Mustangs from there on as they finished with the win, 58-48.
It was Yepa and My’Kale French’s last time as a Mustang. Yepa finished her career strong with 21 points and eight rebounds while French went with four points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The Western New Mexico University women’s basketball finished their season with an overall record 10-18 (7-15 RMAC).
