Western New Mexico's women's basketball team surged past visiting intra-state rival New Mexico Highlands with a furious second half come back to take a 69-62 win Thursday night at Drag's Court. The win moved WNMU to 7-15 on the season and 7-9 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play. Highlands slipped to 10-14 (5-12 RMAC).

 

The first half belonged to the Cowgirls as they shot almost 50 percent from the floor while holding WNMU to just over 40 percent. The visitors had a 36-33 lead at the intermission and led in virtually every statistical category. 

The second stanza saw the Mustangs turn the defense up a notch, limiting Highlands to just 30 percent shooting (9-30) while improving their own accuracy to .452 from the field.

 

Highlands had a 38-34 advantage on the boards but were forced into 22 turnovers by WNMU's stingy defense.

 

The Mustangs' Audra Major (Socorro, NM, Socorro High School) led all scorers with 25 points, including 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. Dana Alexander (Fort Worth, TX, Arlington Heights High School) and Lonnie Sanchez (Scottsdale, AZ, St. Mary's High School) pulled seven rebounds each.

 

Highlands was led by Jessica Armijo with 13 points.

 

The Mustangs return to action Saturday night as CSU-Pueblo visits Silver City in WNMU's final home game of the season. Game time will be 6:00 p.m.

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