CANYON, Texas – The #7 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M turned the ball over 15 times and shot just 42.2% from the floor as they dropped a 72-67 decision to the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico in front of 762 fans on Saturday afternoon at the First United Bank Center in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs snap a five-game win streak to fall to 6-2 (1-1 LSC) while ENMU picks up their second-ever win in Canyon to improve to 4-2 (2-0 LSC) on the season.
 
The teams traded misses to start the game before a WT turnover led to a Mikaehla Connor three from the corner for the first points of the game, WT responded with a Sydney Walton baseline jumper followed by a Sasha Watson steal-and-score at 4-3. ENMU missed from deep as a Walton defensive board led to an Alie Decker three from the wing before a Greyhound turnover and a Watson long ball to run the lead to 10-3, the teams traded turnovers followed by a Walton turnaround jumper in the lane before a Kassandra Harris layup and foul headed into the first media timeout with WT leading 12-5 with 4:55 left in the first.
 
Harris missed at the line after the break followed by a Lilley Vander Zee bucket before Harris responded with a floater in the lane at 14-7, Watson stole away an ENMU pass but the Lady Buffs gave the ball back with a jump-ball to flip the possession arrow followed by misses on both ends before an errant Eastern pass led to a Maddison Wild turnaround jumper in the paint at 16-7. The teams traded turnovers and misses before Amari Dennis hit one-of-two at the line followed by a Decker long ball from the wing at 19-8, Harris missed both chances at the free throw line before a WT turnover led to a Harris bucket to end the first period with the Lady Buffs leading 19-10.
 
Decker added to her point total with a layup to start the period followed by a pair of freebies by Connor before WT's seventh turnover of the game led to a long ball by Daeshi McCants at 21-15, Decker hit two at the charity stripe followed by an ENMU turnover that led to a Madison Parker wide-open layup from Vander Zee. Lexy Hightower grabbed a defensive board that led to Vander Zee knocking down two freebies followed by misses on both ends before a McCants fast break layup at 27-17, WT missed from deep and Brandi Gomez hit a three from the wing to force a Lady Buff timeout with 5:10 left in the half and WT leading 27-20.
 
The Lady Buffs gave the ball away again with an offensive foul as Dasia Johnson connected on a baseline floater followed by an illegal screen call on the Lady Buffs with 3:50 left in the half, Wild rejected an Eastern shot that led to Parker hitting two freebies heading into an ENMU timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 29-22 with 2:42 left. Eastern missed from deep but a shot-clock violation gave the ball back to the Hounds as Connor hit a three from the wing at 29-25, Watson responded with a layup followed by an ENMU shot-clock violation as Parker hit two freebies followed by an ENMU turnover to give the Lady Buffs the last possession of the half but WT couldn't convert as they took a 32-25 lead into the locker room, 32-25.
 
WT went 11-of-24 (45.8%) from the floor including 3-of-5 (60%) from long range and 7-of-8 (87.5%) from the free throw line to go along with 19 rebounds (five offensive, 14 defensive), six assists, 10 turnovers, one block and four steals. Decker led the Lady Buffs at the break with 10 points as the senior went 3-of-5 from the floor and 2-of-3 from deep to go along with two rebounds.
 
The Greyhounds went 9-of-24 (37.5%) from the floor including 4-of-9 (44.4%) from deep and 3-of-8 (37.5%) from the charity stripe to go along with 13 rebounds (five offensive, eight defensive), five assists, 11 turnovers, three blocks and two steals. Connor went 2-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from long range to lead ENMU with eight points at the break to go along with three rebounds.
 
Eastern missed on their first possession of the third period before Watson found Parker for an easy layup before a Hounds long ball at 34-28, Parker knocked down a jumper followed by misses on both ends before a WT foul sent Connor to the line for three free throws as the junior hit two to cut the WT lead to 36-31. WT turned the ball over again but the Hounds were called for an offensive foul as Watson hit two free throws but ENMU responded with a Gomez long ball from the wing at 38-34 before Vander Zee hit one-of-two at the line to send the teams into a media timeout with 4:44 left and WT leading 39-34.
 
Eliza Martinez hit one-of-two at the line after the timeout followed by two freebies by Watson before a CeCe Wooten rebound led to a Watson layup at 43-35, Gomez responded with another long ball followed by a WT miss but the Hounds gave the ball right back with 3:04 left in the period. The teams traded misses before Watson hit a free throw followed by a WT foul and two Gomez free throws at 44-40, Hightower hit two at the line followed by misses on both ends before Gomez hit another three to cut the lead to 46-43 with just over a minute left in the third. WT continued to struggle from the floor as Decker missed a jumper followed by two McCants free throws but Watson responded with a bucket before Jasmine Hotchkins hit a baseline jumper at the buzzer to send the teams into the final period with WT leading 48-47.
 
Hotchkins started the fourth with a three from the wing to give the Hounds their first lead followed by a pair of Watson free throws before Eastern gave the ball back with a turnover, Watson hit a floater in the lane but the Hounds responded with a McCants three-point play to give ENMU the lead at 52-53. There was a delay in the action to review the monitor on a double-technical followed by an ENMU timeout with 7:50 left and the Hounds leading 53-52. Eastern missed on their inbound attempt followed by a Decker layup from Watson before a Wooten steal and ENMU foul led to Walton hitting two at the line at 56-53, Connor responded with a three from the wing followed by a WT miss and a McCants board-and-score at 56-58. Decker hit two freebies followed by an ENMU turnover followed by misses on both ends but an errant pass by the Lady Buffs sent the teams into a timeout with 4:38 left and the game tied at 58-58.
 
Connor gave the Hounds the lead again with a layup before Wild hit a three from the wing followed by another Connor layup at 61-62, WT gave the ball away again as Harris finished under the basket followed by Watson hitting one-of-two at the line to tie the game at 62-62. Eastern gave the ball back with a turnover followed by a Watson bucket but Connor answered with a three from the wing with 1:48 left and ENMU leading 67-64. Wild missed two at the free throw line but Eastern gave the ball back under the WT basket as a foul sent Parker to the line as the Canyon native hit one-of-two but another Eastern turnover gave the ball back to the Lady Buffs with 52.5 left heading into a WT timeout.
 
WT kept possession on a jump ball but immediately turned the ball over as Connor hit one-of-two to run the lead to 68-65 with 31 seconds left to force a Lady Buff timeout, Parker cut into the lead with two free throws with 22.1 left followed by full-court pressure by the Lady Buffs to force an ENMU timeout with 20.2 left. WT was forced to foul as Johna McClelland hit both with 14.2 left to stretch the ENMU lead to 70-67 heading into a timeout. The Lady Buffs missed a trey attempt and were forced to foul with just two seconds left as Connor hit both for the 72-67 win.
 
The Lady Buffs went 19-of-45 (42.2%) from the floor including 4-of-10 (40%) from deep and 25-of-32 (78.1%) from the free throw line to go along with 35 rebounds (11 offensive, 24 defensive), 10 assists, 15 turnovers, one block and five steals. Watson went 7-of-12 from the floor and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe to lead all players with 23 points followed by Decker with 14 and Parker with 12.
 
ENMU was led by McCants with 20 points as she went 6-of-13 from the floor including 3-of-6 from deep followed by Connor with 19 and Gomez with 14. The Greyhounds went 22-of-51 (43.1%) from the floor including 11-of-21 (52.4%) from deep and 17-of-27 (63%) from the free throw line to go along with 28 rebounds (10 offensive, 18 defensive), 11 assists, 17 turnovers, four blocks and six steals.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs continue their homestand on Tuesday night as they take on the Falcons of UT Permian Basin with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m. in Canyon. It will mark the first Lone Star Conference meeting between the two teams, the Falcons enter Saturday with an overall record of 3-4 as they host Western New Mexico today at 2 p.m.