ENMU women fall to UTPB

PORTALES — The UT-Permian Basin Falcons played spoilers to what was supposed to be a special night for the Greyhounds' women's basketball team. The Falcons built a double-digit lead, early in the game, and managed to hold-off a late ENMU charge to take the 68-63 Lone Star Conference-opening victory.

"We just tried to get the ball in the middle of the zone, and attack it from there," Eastern coach Josh Prock said of his team's late rally. "The bottomline is, you can't get down that big to a team, and so, we gotta do a better job."

The Hounds (3-3, 0-1 LSC) were honored with a pregame ceremony, as the university put up a 2016-17 LSC co-champions banner — their first since 1992-93.

However, ENMU was sluggish right from the start, as the Falcons (2-5, 1-0) quickly jumped out to a 17-4 lead. Permian Basin drilled five 3-pointers to gain the early advantage, and wound up going 8-for-15 (53%) in the first half.

However, according to Falcons head coach Rae Boothe, her squad is not equipped for jump shooting, and not surprisingly, Permian began to pound it inside more in the second period.

"We're not a very good shooting team, so I knew that (the 3-point shooting) was gonna be short-lived," Boothe explained. "If I was wrong, I was gonna be happy, of course. For us to have success, we have to play fast, we have to get steals, we have to get stops.

"Hopefully on the offensive end, some of that carries over and that attack mentality, and a control mentality. Limiting our 3-point attempts is huge for us, unless we're wide-open. We really need to put the ball on the floor to get successful, high-percentage shots."

The Greyhounds trailed, 19-8, after the first quarter, and didn't fare much better in the second period, as the deficit remained 11 at the half.

In the third quarter, the Greyhounds' woes continued, as Permian basin started off the first minute of the half with a 6-0 run, thanks to baskets from Nakedra Burke, Khali Pippins-Tyron and Kayla Bretherton.

The deficit would grow to as high as 18 points, but Eastern managed to find its groove soon after. A 3-pointer from Brandi Gomez cut the Falcon lead down to eight, 53-45, with 1:45 left in the third.

ENMU got to within five in the early stages of the fourth, but turnovers — Eastern had 31 on the night — began to rear its ugly head.

The Hounds quickly went back down by nine, until a Jasmine Hotchkiss triple with under three minutes to play helped breathe some new life into Eastern.

Michaela Connor then knocked down a pair of free throws with just nine seconds left to finally get ENMU within one possession. However, after sending the Falcons back to the line with seven seconds on the clock, Eastern missed yet another opportunity.

Bretherton missed the one-and-one attempt, but a Falcon rebound off of a deadball gave Permian Basin yet another chance to seal the deal.

In the end, Eastern's turnovers, coupled with a 20-for-30 (66%) free throw shooting night was just too much to overcome in a tough home-opening loss for the Hounds.

According to Boothe, however, she believes her Falcons haven't gotten ENMU's best, quite yet. "I would imagine Eastern wasn't really that prepared for what we were gonna do - you just can't simulate this defense in your scout team," Boothe said of the Falcons' fierce trap defense. "I think we're gonna have better success the first time we play people, because they just can't scout that. Last year's team finished in the back of the pack, Eastern was at the top. All of those factors considered, we really came to play. (However) I think we'll get a better look at them next time."

Eastern will next host arch-rival West Texas A&M this Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The Hounds will look to earn their first LSC win of the season."We just have to take care of the basketball and not make so many turnovers," Prock said."We gotta value the basketball and do a better job."

UT-Permian Basin 68, Eastern New Mexico 63

UT-Permian Basin (2-5, 1-0) - Khali Pippins-Tyron 2-10 0-0 5, Jackie Perez 5-9 1-2 14, Victoria Lopez 2-6 1-2 7, Sierra LaGrande 4-6 1-2 12, Kayla Bretherton 5-13 6-10 16, Nakedra Burke 1-5 0-0 2, Alexandria Dockery 0-0 0-0 0, Heather Crittenden 0-1 2-2 2, Kristel Reid 0-1 2-2 2, Jasmine Spriggins 2-4 4-6 8, Totals 21-55 17-26 68.

ENMU (3-3, 0-1) - Shelby Jones 1-1 0-3 2, Daeshi McCants 3-9 4-6 11, Jasmine Hotchkins 3-6 2-3 11, Dasia Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Mikaehla Connor 2-4 3-4 7, Brandi Gomez 5-12 0-0 13, Sarina Johnson 0-2 2-2 2, Alivia Lewis 1-2 2-2 4, Kaylee Edgemon 3-5 7-10 13, Totals 18-42 20-30 63.

UTPB 19 18 18 13 — 68

ENMU 8 18 21 16 — 63

3-pointers - UT-Permian Basin 9-19 (Sierra LaGrande 3, Jackie Perez 3 Victoria Lopez 2, Khali Pippins-Tyron 1), Eastern New Mexico 7-23 (Jasmine Hotchkins 3, Brandi Gomez 3, Daeshi McCants 1). Rebounds - UT-Permian Basin 28 (Kayla Bretherton 5), Eastern New Mexico 40 (McCants 12). Assists- UT-Permian Basin 11 (Bretherton 6), Eastern New Mexico 15 (McCants 5). Blocks - UT-Permian Basin 1 (Heather Crittenden 1), Eastern New Mexico 7 (McCants 3). Steals- UT-Permian Basin 8 (Pippins-Tyron 2, Jackie Perez 2, Kayla Bretherton 2), Eastern New Mexico 7 (McCants 2, Gomez 2). Technical fouls - None. Fouled out - Hotchkins. A- 388.