ENMU women accorded sixth seed in regional

PORTALES — After capturing a share of the Lone Star Conference regular-season championship but losing in the quarterfinals of the LSC tournament, the Eastern New Mexico University women’s basketball team earned an at-large berth on Sunday to the NCAA Division II South Central Region tournament.

It was the first NCAA tourney berth for the program since the school joined the NCAA in the mid-1980s. ENMU (20-8, 16-4 LSC) posted the second-most wins in program history and easily set a team record for conference victories.

“We started this four years ago and this is what you envision, this is your goal,” ENMU coach Josh Prock said. “Once you’re in, everyone has a chance.”

The Greyhounds face third-seeded Colorado-Colorado Springs (23-8), the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament champion, in a noon quarterfinal game on Friday at Colorado State-Pueblo’s Massari Arena.

CSU-Pueblo (27-3) earned the No. 1 seed and the right to host the three-day event.

ENMU is one of four LSC teams in the field, joined by second-seeded Angelo State, fourth-seeded West Texas A&M and No. 8 Tarleton State, the LSC tournament champion.

“I think that speaks volumes to how good the Lone Star is,” Prock said. “It’s a tough bracket with Pueblo, who has been playing great all year. The other non-LSC team’s are all playing very well right now.”

ENMU had a chance to win the LSC title outright, taking a two-game lead over Angelo State into the final week. But they lost at home to the Rambelles and to Texas A&M-Kingsville, then fell in overtime to the Javelinas in the LSC tourney.

The Hounds now enter the week in an underdog role, Prock said.

“I think part of it is that we’ve had the bullseye on our back the last couple of weeks,” Prock said of his team’s late struggles. “Now we are the sixth seed in the region, so we can turn those tables a little bit, take that underdog role that we’ve had leading up to this year and see what we can do up there in Pueblo.”

In other first-round games on Friday, Angelo (24-5) takes on St. Edward’s (20-8) 2:30 p.m., WT (23-8) plays Regis (23-7) at 8 p.m. and Tarleton (18-13) battles Pueblo at 5:30 p.m. Semifinals are at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the championship game at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.