Box Score SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Western New Mexico University women's basketball team built their largest lead of the night of eight with 13 minutes to play in the game before Texas A&M International came back to defeat the Mustangs, 75-70, Saturday night inside Drag's Court.


TAMIU (1-4) opened the game with a pair of three-pointers, before WNMU (0-2) answered with treys from Lonnie Sanchez (Scottsdale, AZ/St. Mary's High School) and Morgan Wohltman (Queen Creek, AZ/Highland High School) to tie the game at six two minutes in.


That would help spring a Mustang spurt, as after TAMIU went back in front by two at 8-6, WNMU scored the next eight points for a 14-8 lead at the 15:43 mark.


During the run, Sanchez, Heather Hamilton (Ely, NV/White Pine High School), Kassie Scott (El Paso, TX/Coronado High School) and Wohltman all contributed two points each.


WNMU would keep the lead until the eight-minute mark when the Dustdevils fought back to tie the game at 23.


They would boost the lead to five before the Mustangs came back to retake the lead at 33-32 on a pair of free throws by Scott. Of the 10 points scored from the game being tied at 23, eight came via the charity stripe for WNMU.


After the fifth tie of the game occurred at the 1:03 mark (35-35), TAMIU closed the half with a 4-2 run to take a 39-37 lead into halftime.


TAMIU pushed the tempo out of the locker room, opening up a six-point lead, 44-38, with 18:43 to play.


Wohltman then began to heat up once again, as with the Mustangs trailing by two, 46-44, she connected on a three to put WNMU in front, 47-46. She followed that up with another stop and pop three from the corner to boost the lead to four, 50-46.


She wasn't done, after TAMIU scored a bucket to trim it back to a two-point game, she unleashed another quick shot three from the wing for a 53-48 Mustang lead at the 14:37 mark.


Scott and Hamilton then got into the act, with Scott pounding inside the paint for a layup and then another layup by Hamilton off a steal made it a 57-49 lead with 13 minutes to play.


Just when it looked like WNMU was set to pull away with their largest lead of the night, the Dustdevils came back.


Still holding a four-point lead following a jumper by Wohltman, 62-58, TAMIU tallied the next four points to tie the game at 62 with 6:29 to play.


The teams would trade possessions before a seventh tie at 65 would be the last of the game.


The Dustdevils took the lead for good on the next trip down the court, with Samantha Chacon connecting on a jumper near the top of the key.


Nikkiti Scott then came up big again for the Dustdevils, as she cleaned up her own miss with a layup to push the lead to four, 69-65, with two minutes to play.


Scott countered with a big and-one, as she split the defense to spin home a layup and then swished the foul shot to cut the deficit to one, 69-68, with 1:45 to play.


TAMIU once again got a boost from Scott on the next trip down, as she followed up a missed shot with her own miss, before collecting another rebound and drawing the foul.


She hit both foul shots to make it a three-point game, 71-68, with 1:07 to play.


Wohltman nailed two free throws of her own to once again make it a one-point game with under a minute to play.


The Dustdevils then ended up chewing clock, as they missed four shots, but continued to come up with the offensive rebound. Finally, on the last rebound, with the shot clock turned off, WNMU was forced to foul.


Chacon made both to make it a three-point game, 73-70 with 24 seconds left.


The Mustangs missed a jumper on their next trip down the court and after Scott cleared the boards, the Dustdevils raced down the court to tally a layup right before the horn sounded for a 75-70 victory.


Wohltman led all-scorers with 25 points, including five three-pointers. She also had four rebounds, an assist and two steals.


Kassie Scott (El Paso, TX/Coronado High School) was second in scoring with 16, while Hamilton had her second-straight double-double going for 10 points and 10 rebounds.


Jelesia Gray (Sierra Vista, AZ/Buena High School) led the team in rebounds with 11, while she also had four blocks and seven points.


Nikkiti Scott led TAMIU with 23 points and had a game-high 16 rebounds, with 12 of them coming on the offensive glass. She also had three blocks and three steals.


Both teams shot about the same from the field, with TAMIU hitting at just over 34 percent (27-79), while WNMU was just under 36 percent (20-56).


WNMU made eight three-pointers to six for TAMIU, while the Mustangs held a seven-point advantage at the charity stripe, making 22-of-30, while TAMIU made 15-of-24.


WNMU will return to action on Tuesday, November 29 on the road at Texas-Permian Basin with tipoff set for 7 p.m.