SILVER CITY, N.M. – It was a battle throughout, but the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team was able to hold off in-state rival New Mexico Highlands University, 51-45, to claim the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon.
With the win and with Regis defeating Colorado State University-Pueblo, WNMU advances to the RMAC Tournament as the eighth seed that will take place Tuesday night. Even if MSU Denver wins tonight, WNMU holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
In a back-and-forth battle throughout the first half that featured six ties and six lead changes, each team also had large leads of five. After NMHU (6-20, 5-17 RMAC) opened the scoring, WNMU (14-12, 11-11 RMAC) went on a 7-0 run to open a 7-2 lead. Ashley Mitchell (Fort Defiance, AZ/Window Rock High School) started the run with a jumper in the paint. Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) added a foul shot, then after two from the line by RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School), Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) closed the spurt with a jumper at the 16:39 mark.
The Cowgirls then opened their large lead of the half with 6:58 to play on a jumper by Brittany Brown for a 20-15 lead.
Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley High School) drilled a three from the corner with just under two minutes to play in the half to push WNMU back in front, 25-23, but NMHU closed the half with a three-point-play to take a 26-25 lead into the locker rooms.
It was a defensive struggle through the first 20 minutes with both teams shooting around 30 percent. WNMU held the edge at the foul line (7-3), while NMHU made more three-pointers (5-2). Newsome, Moore and Gutierrez led WNMU with five points in the opening half. Giulia Simioni paced the Cowgirls with nine points.
NMHU had the lead back to five a few minutes into the second half before WNMU came back to take the lead with a pair of foul shots by Hernandez at the 13:58 mark for the 36-35 lead. Hernandez continued her scoring outburst with a jumper with eight minutes to play that had the lead at six, 42-36.
The Cowgirls would get the lead back to one, but the Lady Mustangs kept coming. Hernandez hit a jumper and after two foul shots by Moore, Hernandez drilled another jumper to push WNMU ahead by seven, 48-41, with just two minutes to play.
NMHU would only get as close as four down the stretch with WNMU coming away with the victory.
Moore led all-scorers with 15 points, she also added nine rebounds. Hernandez was also just short of a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Brown led NMHU with 14 points.
WNMU limited NMHU to just 26.8 percent (15-56) shooting and forced 19 turnovers. WNMU made 31.5 percent (17-54), but took advantage at the foul line where they were plus-seven (15-8).
