Heather Brown's 23 Points Lead Zias to 66-63 Win over TAMU-Commerce

Box Score

PORTALES, N.M. — Playing without two starters and a key bench player, Eastern New Mexico University received a strong performance from Heather Brown (Jr., G, Hereford, TX/Hereford HS), who scored 23 points, including 17 in the second half, as ENMU claimed a 66-63 victory over Texas A&M University-Commerce, in a Lone Star Conference crossover game on Thursday, Dec. 8. The Zias improved to 6-1, for Eastern’s best start since the 1992-93 season, when the Zias won the LSC Championship with a 23-5 overall record. The Lions dropped to 4-3 on the season.

Eastern lost the services of two starters during two games last week in Oklahoma, when
Elizabeth Richards (Jr., F, Texico, NM/Texico HS) and Riikka Lehtonen (Sr., Post, Turku, Finland/Kilgore College) suffered season-ending knee injuries. Richards went down in the first half of a 73-50 loss at Southwestern Oklahoma State University on Dec. 1. Two days later, Lehtonen suffered her injury in the closing minutes of Eastern’s 66-65 win over Cameron University. Rochelle Vance (Jr., F, Duncanville, TX/Frank Phillips College) suffered a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 26 in a 71-50 win over Fort Lewis College.

Both teams had a tough time putting the ball through the basket in the first half. ENMU
connected on only 29.4% of its first-half field goal attempts, while Commerce managed an even worse 26.5% from the field. The Zias went into halftime with a 24-22 lead, after finishing the half with a 6-0 run, behind a basket by Brown and two layups by Lindsey Wood (Fr., G, Muleshoe, TX/Muleshoe HS). Tiana Bryant (Sr., Post, Roswell, NM/University of New Mexico) was effective early, finishing the first 20 minutes of the game with six points, six boards and three blocks.

Brown, who scored six points in the first half, got the Zias rolling in the second half with a three-pointer. Commerce forward Andrea Lewis scored the next five points to tie the game at 27-27 with 18:42 to play. Junior college transfer Jennifer Foster (Jr., Post, Wichita Falls, TX/Hill College), playing her first game in a Zia uniform, scored on a layup to start a 24-13 run, that gave Eastern its biggest lead of the game at 51-40 with 8:25 remaining.

Commerce came back with a 7-0 run, beginning with a 3-pointer by Jennifer McCord. Eastern got the lead back up to double digits with a 6-0 run, started by an offensive rebound and put-back by Ashley Sutton (Jr., G, Italy, TX/Tyler Junior College). Brown finished the run with one of her three 3-pointers to give the Zias a 57-47 lead with 5:12 left on the clock.

In the next three-plus minutes, Eastern managed only two points on free throws by Bryant and Brown. As the Zia offense struggled, the Lions began a 14-2 run, starting with a jumper by Katedria Mosley and followed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Dawn Montgomery. The run gave Commerce a 61-59 lead, its first lead since the closing minutes of the first half.

Two free throws by Erika Cook (So., G, Portales, NM/Portales HS) tied the score at 61-61
with 1:49 to play. With 50 seconds left, ENMU called a time-out and set up a play for Sutton’s second three-pointer of the game. She sank the trifecta with 29 seconds left for a 64-61 Zia lead.

A layup by Mosley got the Lions to within one point with 11 seconds on the clock. After a time-out, the Lions intentionally fouled Brown, who hit both clutch free throws to clinch the victory for Eastern.

Brown finished the game with 23 points, including 3 for 3 on 3-pointers. She connected on 8 of 10 free throw attempts and dished out four assists. Bryant scored 16 points, 10 in the second half, and grabbed six rebounds, as she played all 40 minutes. Sutton scored eight points and Cook finished with six points and four boards, while leading Eastern with five assists. Brittney Gillespie (So., Post, Aztec, NM/Aztec HS) led the Zias with eight rebounds and scored four points. Foster logged 14 minutes on the court, hitting 2 of 3 shots for four points. She also grabbed five boards.

The Lions were led by Mosley, with 20 points and 14 boards. Commerce out-rebounded the Zias, 53-41, with help from Althea Byfield, who finished with 11 rebounds. Lewis scored 12 points, including a pair of baskets from beyond the arc. Montgomery also hit two 3-pointers on her way to scoring nine points.

ENMU will play its final home game before the winter break on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. MST, against St. Edward’s University. During the break, the Zias will travel to Alaska to play back-to-back games against the University of Alaska-Anchorage on Dec. 19 and 20.