ENMU ROUNDUP: Hounds fall short in basketball exhibitions

Staff report

ALBUQUERQUE — The Eastern New Mexico University men’s basketball team played with New Mexico for much of the game on Friday, but the Lobos pulled away from a one-point lead over the final 10 minutes to claim an 88-66 victory on Friday night at The Pit.

Meantime, the ENMU women took Southern Utah to the wire before dropping a 63-60 decision to the Lady Thunderbirds at Cedar Park, Utah. The women will be in Albuquerque on Sunday for a 2 p.m. exhibition against their counterparts from UNM.

ENMU’s men shot just 36 percent from the field, but stayed in it by hitting 11 3-pointers. They trailed 36-32 at halftime and pulled even at 47-47 in the second half, but the Lobos went on a 31-9 run to finish off the game.

Tim Williams led UNM with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Damien Jefferson added 11 points. For the Hounds, Marquise Harris scored 14 points and Damien Jefferson added 11.

Both ENMU teams open the regular season next Friday and Saturday, the women at Greyhound Arena and the men at Canyon, Texas.

Women — At Cedar Park, Utah, ENMU took a 60-59 lead with 1:24 left on a jumper by junior Amari Dennis, but the Lady Thunderbirds countered with the final four points and held on as a 3-pointer by Dennis with four seconds left was off the mark.

Southern Utah led 47-35 at halftime and again by 12 points with eight minutes left in the third quarter before the Greyhounds mounted a comeback. They closed to 45-41 late in the third quarter and took their first lead since late in the opening stanza on a basket by senior post Kassandra Harris with 7:24 to go.

The game was tied at 51-51, and Clovis High grad Brandi Gomez hit a 3-pointer to keep ENMU within 55-54 with five minutes to go. Amari’s layup tied it with 3:02 left and she gave the Hounds the lead after Southern Utah’s Jessica Richardson hit 1-of-2 from the line.

Harris finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds for ENMU, while Dennis added 10 points. The Lady T-birds, members of the Big Sky Conference, got 18 points from center Whitney Johnson, 13 from forward Darri Frandsen and 10 from reserve Maren Herrud.

ENMU, which hasn’t beaten a Division I opponent since 1987, had two more field goals overall and three more 3-pointers than Southern Utah, but the Lady T-birds hit 16-of-29 free throws to 5-of-10 for the Hounds.

Volleyball — At Denton, Texas, ENMU finally gave up a set, but the Greyhounds extended their match winning streak to six on Friday with a 25-23, 27-29, 25-23, 25-10 Lone Star Conference victory over Texas Woman’s.

After three incredibly close sets in which neither team garnered more than a three-point lead, the Hounds took control in the fourth set with six consecutive points for a 10-2 cushion. ENMU extended that margin to double figures at 13-3 on as kill by freshman Sara Tuioti-Mariner and it never got under that margin the rest of the way.

Senior outside hitter Lauren Frye collected 23 kills for the Hounds (16-10, 11-5 LSC), while senior middle blocker Brooklyn Biel added 15 kills and senior outside hitter Courtney Lawson posted a double-double with 10 kills and 23 digs. Tuioti-Mariner also had 10 kills.

Senior middle blocker Sara Oxford led the Pioneers (8-18, 4-13) with 19 kills.

ENMU continues its weekend road trip today with a 1 p.m. (MDT) match at Texas A&M-Commerce.