Zias come up short vs. Cameron

Sports writer

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Once again, Eastern New Mexico University’s women fought back from a double-figure deficit in the second half. Only this time, the Zias came up short.

Junior guard Jordyn Cooper’s 3-point attempt to tie in the closing seconds was off the mark, and Cameron escaped with a 68-63 Lone Star Conference win on Wednesday night at Greyhound Arena. Senior guard Jazzmine Robinson scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for second-place Cameron (13-8, 10-2 LSC), which hosts seventh-ranked and league-leading West Texas A&M (19-2, 10-1) on Saturday.

The Aggies have won 12 of their last 14 games after a 1-6 start.

“People talk about ‘trap’ games,” said Cameron coach Tom Webb, whose program isn’t used to being among the LSC’s elite. “I don’t believe in that. We know every game in the league will be hard and you’ve got to show up to play.”

Cooper finished with 17 points for the Zias (8-13, 4-7) on 6-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-11 from 3-point range. But the rest of the team struggled, going 18-of-63 (22 percent).

“Jordyn played well,” ENMU coach Josh Prock said. “You can’t ask for a better shot at the end, but she made a lot of big shots tonight.”

The game was mainly played at a break-neck pace, at times perhaps too fast.

“We like to play that way,” said Webb, whose team is second in the LSC in scoring at 71 ppg. “You just have to live with (mistakes) at times. “We looked a little tired, but this group has figured it out. It’s all them; they fight for each other.”

The Zias led much of the early going, but Cameron went ahead for good with seven minutes left in the half and eventually built a 13-point margin with under 18 minutes to go.

Cooper scored nine points in a span of 40 seconds — two 3s and a three-point play — to get the Zias within 49-47 with 14 minutes left, but they never got over the hump.

Junior guard Brandi Leal added 15 points for the Aggies, all coming on 3-pointers, including four in the first half. She broke Cameron’s single-season school mark for 3s and now has 75 for the season.

“We told our girls she’ll shoot out to 25 or 26 feet,” Prock said. “You’ve got to give her credit, but we have to get out on her and guard her.”

Junior guard Sarah Stinnett, coming off a 37-point outing in ENMU’s win over Angelo State on Saturday, finished with 15 in this one before fouling out late.

The seventh-place Zias visit Midwestern State on Saturday before closing out their home schedule with games on Tuesday against Texas A&M-Commerce and Thursday against Texas Woman’s — the teams directly ahead of them in the LSC standings.