Lady Reds shade Zias with rally

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Leslie Warner converted four 3-pointers, including one to give Northeastern State the lead for good with 4:19 left, and the Lady Reds held off Eastern New Mexico University 53-49 Saturday in a Lone Star Conference women’s crossover game.

Northeastern State (6-1), which suffered its first loss of the season Thursday night against West Texas A&M, erased a seven-point deficit in the second half as the Zias (3-4) continued their season-long struggle with turnovers. ENMU committed 28 floor errors, hitting 15 of just 33 field goal attempts for the game.

“Too many turnovers,” ENMU women’s coach Dan Buzard said. “We should’ve beaten them; we’re better than they are.

“We played really good defense, but we weren’t as aggressive as we should’ve been.”

Guard Rikki Hall added 10 points for the Lady Reds, who survived a 36 percent (19-of-53) field goal shooting).

Guard Laci Lee led the Zias with 15 points. Forward Elizabeth Richards paced ENMU to a 31-25 edge on the boards with 12 rebounds.

The Zias went on a 13-2 run early to open a 15-7 lead with eight minutes left in the first half. NSU countered with a 13-5 charge, taking a 20-18 lead on a 3-pointer by Katy Kelley with 3:58 to go in the half.

Two free throws by Mika Robertson and one by Jereena Bosket put the Zias back in front, but the Lady Reds scored eight of the final 10 points to lead 28-23 at halftime.

Eastern scored the first nine points of the second half, capped by Richards’ 3-pointer and opened a 38-31 margin on a basket by Robertson with 10:15 to go. Down 40-34, the Lady Reds went on a 15-2 run on another trey by Warner with under two minutes left.

“We capitalized when we got good shots; we just didn’t get enough of them,” Buzard said. “We really executed pretty well the first half on both ends. We just didn’t sustain it.”