Forcing 24 turnovers and cashing that into 22 points, the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team took control early against South Dakota School of Mines and never looked back cruising to the 67-54 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Friday night.
“Proud of our group, we played well, it takes a lot of toughness to ride a bus for over 20 hours and get off and fight through being tired and execute the way we did on both ends!” Head Coach Rusty Kennedy said.
The defense was solid all game long limiting the Hardrockers (4-4, 1-3 RMAC) to just a 4-18 (22.2) effort from three point range and after a late run in the fourth quarter helped boost their shooting percentage to 40 percent (20-50) from the field.
After South Dakota Mines opened the scoring a minute in, Jordan Gutierrez answered back with a three-pointer that put WNMU (5-4, 3-1 RMAC) in front for the rest of the game. It was the first of five made three-pointers for Gutierrez as she connected on 5-9 from downtown, as that accounted for all of her field goal attempts to end up with 15 points. She also added four steals and a pair of rebounds in playing 39 minutes.
With the game tied at five, WNMU shut the Hardrockers down the rest of the first quarter, going on a 11-2 run to take a 16-7 lead. Jade Botelho triggered the spurt with back-to-back baskets. Tessa Jones moved the lead to six with a layup off her own offensive rebound before My’Kale French and Cristiana Yepa closed the 11-0 run with a layup and three-pointer respectively. Botelho posted a solid game leading the team in both points with 16 and rebounds with 12 for her first double-double of the season.
South Dakota Mines rallied in the second quarter, working their way back to tie the game for the second and final time at 22-all. The Lady Mustangs responded with a three by Gutierrez and a layup by Desiree Smith to help give WNMU a 29-24 lead at halftime. Smith was the third Lady Mustang to reach double-figures in scoring on the night tying Gutierrez with 15 points, while adding a team-high four assists and five steals.
With the game still close starting the second half, the Lady Mustangs put away any possibility of a comeback by putting together a dominating 23-14 third quarter.
The Lady Mustangs had the lead into double-digits early in the third quarter and after a rally by South Dakota Mines pulled them back to within 11, WNMU put the game away. Botelho connected on a pair of jumpers around a pair of triples by Gutierrez for a quick 10-0 run that moved WNMU ahead by 21, 48-27, with three minutes to play in the third quarter.
Midway through the final quarter South Dakota Mines made one last run getting back to within nine, but WNMU had the answer. French drilled a three and a pair from the free throw line by Smith moved the lead back into double-digits for the rest of the contest.
WNMU ended up shooting just under 40 percent making 20-52. Although nearly half of those makes were three-pointers going 9-23 (39.1) from downtown. It is the second-most three-pointers made this season just short of the 11 makes against New Mexico Highlands. WNMU also held an 18-10 edge on free throws made.
For Botelho, Gutierrez and Smith their point totals in the game tonight are season-highs for all three.
Megan Rohrer had a huge game for the Hardrockers going for a game-high 24 points while adding eight rebounds.