ENMU teams to head west, then east

PORTALES — This weekend, Greyhound Arena plays host to one of the area’s longest standing traditions, the Eastern Plains Athletic Conference basketball tournament.

The 20 boys and girls teams means something else for Eastern New Mexico’s basketball programs — a Lone Star Conference road trip.

After absorbing losses to West Texas A&M to open the 2020 portion of their schedule, the Greyhound men and women get back at it Thursday at Western New Mexico and Saturday at Texas-Permian Basin.

Both teams are off to 3-3 starts in overall LSC play, but have gone 0-for-2 in division games. This weekend marks the first time either team sees a division opponent outside of the Buffs. The Greyhound teams each have two more games with Western, UTPB, Angelo State and Lubbock Christian.

Women

The Greyhound women didn’t suffer in the polls, moving into a tie with Fort Lewis for sixth in the Division II Sports Information Directors Association South Central Regional Poll. Overall, they’re 9-3 and are 3-2 on the road so far.

The South Central Region includes the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Lone Star Conference. Defending national champion Lubbock Christian is first and is 13-0 this season. Texas A&M-Commerce, also 13-0, is second. The Lady Buffs are fourth, and other LSC members Angelo State, Tarleton State and St. Edward’s rounded out the last three spots.

Against WNMU: The Mustangs are 4-7 overall, with a 1-6 LSC mark and an 0-3 division record, but Thursday represents just their fourth home game.

“The atmosphere there is crazy,” ENMU coach Josh Prock said. “It’s a smaller gym, and they get a decent crowd. You’ve got to be able to handle the atmosphere.”

The Greyhounds will have to find ways to create turnovers against the Mustangs and stop easy baskets in transition.

Alicia Mardis leads the team at 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, and the Mustangs have plenty of perimeter threats. Their next four leading scorers are a combined 45-of-138 (32.6%) from beyond the arc.

Against Texas-Permian Basin: Prock said that the Odessa-based Falcons have a similar environment, but are pretty different on the floor.

“They play a different style,” Prock said. “They scrap all over the place. They like to shoot a ton of 3s.”

The Falcons are 6-7 overall, with a 3-4 LSC mark and a 1-2 division record. They have three double-figure scorers in Holly Hemmeline (12.1), Lemia Ntor-Ue (11.4) and Rory Carter (10.4).

The team is 94-of-314 from 3-point range, led by Hemmeline’s 27-of-87.

Men

The Greyhounds’ 3-10 mark looks unimpressive, but an optimistic Green-and-Silver fan would point out the team has won three of its last five and took the division-leading Buffs to the wire in one of those losses.

The week should provide a look at the extremes of the LSC, with the Mustangs trying to break a three-game skid while Texas-Permian Basin is 9-0 at home.

Junior guard Devin Pullum has increased his scoring to 13 points per game, and six other Greyhounds are between six and eight points a night.

Against WNMU: Elijah Holifield leads three Mustangs in double figures at 13.4 points per game. Michael McDougal is scoring 12.5 points and Malik Sanders is adding 11 a game.

Against Texas-Permian Basin: The biggest concern is senior guard Pat Dembley, second in the LSC in scoring at 22.4 points per night while shooting 40.5% from beyond the arc. Dembley is also fourth in the LSC with 4.8 assists per game. Jordan Horne is scoring 16 points per game on 48.1% shooting.

An attempt to contact ENMU men’s coach Tres Segler was unsuccessful.