ENMU women off to hot start

PORTALES — Hope springs eternal in mid-autumn for every basketball team everywhere — pro, college or high school.

For the Eastern New Mexico women’s team, there’s more than hope. The Greyhounds have legitimate reason for optimism. They were a winning team last season. They are already 3-0 this season, coming off Wednesday’s 73-62 road victory over Northern New Mexico. They have height, they have ball-handlers, they have game from the perimeter, they have experience.

It could be a special team in the very early stages of a special season. Even head coach Josh Prock, with cautious optimism, used the ‘s’ word — special — just before a Thursday-afternoon film session at Greyhound Arena.

“Our young ladies, the things I love about them are, they’re willing to work, they’re willing to learn,” Prock said. “Any time you have a team that is willing to do those things, that has an open mind about everything, I think you have a chance to have a special team.

“I think we have a lot of really, really good pieces,” Prock continued. “Obviously throughout the year our job is to get them to jell together, get them to fit together. The pieces are fitting well so far.”

“I feel like we’re starting to mesh together. That comes in due time,” Jasmine Williams, a 6-0 senior post and transfer from South Carolina State, said before Thursday’s film session.

“We’ve learned each other a little bit more as the games have gone on,” 5-7 sophomore guard Zamorye Cox, a 2018 Portales High graduate and key member of the Lady Rams’ 2018 state 4A championship, said before Thursday’s session. “I think ball movement and player to player, knowing what each can do, has helped us. And we’re going to keep doing that. In the plays ... you know what someone likes to do, where they are on the court, you know where they like to shoot.”

Cox has been part of the starting lineup so far, along with redshirt sophomore guard Jena Mehlbrech (5-6) from Spring Branch, Texas; junior guard Anasha Hurst (5-8) from St. Louis by way of Kirkwood Community College; junior post Alivia Lewis (6-2), a 2017 Hope Christian Academy graduate and an All-Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention last season; and senior post Natalie DeLonge (6-4) from Klamath Falls, Oregon, a transfer from Western Oregon University who was second-team All-Great Northwest Athletic Conference while playing for that school last season.

“It’s been working great,” Prock said of the starting unit. “Those five did a good job getting us off to a good start. They’ve just got to keep it up.”

Last year at South Carolina State, Williams averaged 15.1 points and 10.2 rebounds, so she will be a valuable bench player for Eastern if she remains out of the starting lineup.

5-10 freshman post Taylee Rippee is another ENMU newcomer. She is a Portales High graduate who was also part of the Lady Rams’ 2018 state title run.

Rounding out the roster are: 5-8 junior guard Briana Rodriguez; 5-8 redshirt freshman guard Natalie Stice; 6-1 junior wing Chanterria Jackson; 5-8 redshirt freshman guard Myra McCaskill; 5-6 freshman guard Julia Chavez; 5-6 junior guard Chelsea Hunter; 5-9 junior guard Laura Rowe; 5-9 freshman guard Taylor Hall; 5-9 redshirt freshman wing Asha Ross; 5-11 senior post Jerraysha Smith; and 6-2 sophomore post Kamirah Decker.

The Greyhounds were just having a mellow film session instead of a practice Thursday afternoon because they had played a game against Northern New Mexico in Espanola the previous night. They won 73-62, a solid outcome considering it was a double-digit victory on the road. But the Hounds didn’t think they had played their best basketball, after having to rally from a 34-30 halftime deficit.

“Ah, it was kind of sketchy,” Williams said, wincing a bit. “I thought we could’ve beat the team, should’ve beat the team, by more than we did. We kind of came out with not too much energy.”

“Our transition defense was not always there,” Cox said. “That (Northern New Mexico) team had a lot of energy and pushed a lot on the press and the fast break.”

“I think we learned that we have to bring it every night. You can’t take nights off,” Prock said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you have to be mature enough to be ready to play every team. And I think we learned a good, valuable lesson about that (Wednesday) night. We were able to pull it out.”

Of the starters, only DeLonge found her way to double digits, scoring 10 points.

Hall led the Greyhounds with 16 points as a reserve. Stice (13) and Williams (11) also provided double-digit scoring off the bench.

Despite the Hounds’ performance at Northern New Mexico, subpar by their own assessments, Prock is generally pleased.

“You’ve got to be a tough team to be able to do the things that this team has done,” he said. “I think there’s definitely room for growth and improvement, but they have great attitudes, they’re smart kids, and I love coaching this bunch. … We’re playing hard, we’re playing together. We haven’t played our best yet, but we’ll eventually get there.”