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Hounds re-Buffed

WT holds off ENMU, ending perfect start at 10 games

PORTALES — All good things must come to an end. That came Thursday for Eastern New Mexico university's women, as West Texas A&M avoided a season sweep with a 62-52 win at Greyhound Arena.

Maddison Wild scored 18 points and Madison Parker 17 for the visiting Lady Buffs (14-6, 7-4), who snapped ENMU's winning streak at seven and became the Greyhounds' first loss in LSC play following a school-record 10-0 conference start.

Shooting doomed the Greyhounds (14-4, 10-1) as their lead for the LSC's top spot shrunk to one game over Angelo State with nine games left in the conference season. ENMU shot just 15-of-58, or 26 percent, from the field.

"I think their length bothered us a little bit, but we didn't hit a lot of shots we normally do," ENMU coach Josh Prock said. "That's not going to happen every night and if you think about how well we have been playing, to have an off game is bound to happen. It's how we respond to it that matters."

The Buffs, meanwhile, improved their postseason chances by remaining in a tie with Tarleton State for fourth place. The top eight teams in the 11-team LSC will be seeded in the LSC tournament March 2-5.

Eastern was led by Mikaehla Connor with 12 points. While no other Greyhound was in double-digits, Daeshi McCants scored nine points and pulled down 10 rebounds, while Johna McClelland snagged 11 boards.

Outside of shooting, Eastern outrebounded WT 42-34, shot almost 80 percent from the charity stripe and an efficient 39 percent from beyond the arc.

"Moving forward, it's a great lesson learned," Prock said. "In a 26-, 27-game season, to go perfect is very hard to do. We had a road block here tonight, but give West Texas all the credit. They came in here and executed their game plan."

Despite an early lead, Eastern would fall behind 18-14 by the end of the opening period, a deficit that would only grow as the game continued. After finding themselves down by as much as 12 , the Hounds did manage to cut the Buffs' lead down to only five points with four minutes left.

Unfortunately a turnover, followed by a foul and a technical foul would swing the momentum back to West Texas, stopping what slim chance of a comeback there was at that point in its tracks.

The Greyhounds are back in action Saturday with a 2 p.m. tipoff against Texas-Permian Basin.