ENMU women ousted in D-II national tournament debut

PUEBLO, Colo. — Eastern New Mexico University women's basketball coach Josh Prock hopes his team can build on what was a special season that didn't end as well as hoped.

The Greyhounds reached the NCAA Division II regionals for the first time in program history, but their stay was short as third-seeded Colorado-Colorado Springs used a huge third quarter to pull away to an 89-73 quarterfinal win on Friday. It was ENMU's fourth loss in a row.

"Going into next year, we pretty much have everyone coming back," said Prock, whose team finished 20-9 and shared the Lone Star Conference title with Angelo State at 16-4. "We need to learn from our mistakes.

"This team had pride all year long. They've just keep fighting, and I'm very proud of them."

ENMU, seeded sixth in the eight-team field, led the Mountain Lions 16-15 after the first quarter, and trailed by just four points at halftime. But Colorado Springs (23-8) went on a 20-2 run early in the third period and led by as much as 25 points down the stretch.

Senior forward Brittany Hernandez finished with 20 points for the Mountain Lions, and senior forward Tori Fisher added 17 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Junior forward Mia Carter added 10 points off the bench.

For ENMU, which had just eight turnovers in the contest, sophomore guard Dasia Johnson finished with 18 points, junior guard Jasmine Hotchkins scored 14 off the bench and junior post Daeshi McCants tossed in 11.

The Mountain Lions shot 51 percent from the field (30-of-59) while ENMU went just 26-of-82 overall and 8-of-35 from long range.

"It was a really tough way to end it, but we had our most wins since 1992 and our first conference championship," Prock said. "There were only 64 teams left, and only one goes home a winner."

The Mountain Lions will face Angelo State, a 79-60 winner over St. Edward's on Friday, in a 5 p.m. semifinal today. The championship game is set for Monday night.