Box Score SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Western New Mexico University women's basketball team kept fighting back against Black Hills State University, but each time the Yellow Jackets had the answer as they held off the Lady Mustangs to come away with the 80-63 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Friday night.

"Black Hills State was tough tonight," second-year head coach Rusty Kennedy said. "We have to do a better job of playing through adversity on the road than we did in this one."

BHSU (9-5, 8-2 RMAC) jumped out to a pair of early five-point leads just to watch WNMU (7-9, 4-7 RMAC) come back to tie on a jumper by junior forward Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) and later move in front on a pair from the charity stripe by Hernandez for the 11-9 lead seven minutes in.


The Yellow Jackets would string together a 5-0 run when senior guard Kim Clark (Santee, CA/West Hills High School) connected from deep to knot the game at 14.
This time BHSU would answer with a lengthy run of 15-0 to build a 29-14 lead with four minutes to go before halftime. The Lady Mustangs didn't go away, responding with a 7-0 run capped by a pair of free throws from senior forward Veronica Celaya (Chandler, AZ/Williams Field High School).


Junior point guard RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) tallied a late steal and free throws to pull WNMU to within six, 33-27, at halftime.


The Lady Mustangs would get back to within six a minute into the second half on a Hernandez jumper, to which the Yellow Jackets came back with a 7-0 run to push in front, 42-29, with 17 minutes to go in the game.


The deficit would hover around double-digits before junior guard Ashley Mitchell (Fort Defiance, AZ/Window Rock High School) hit a three-pointer to draw the Lady Mustangs to within seven at 47-40 at the 12:39 mark. Mitchell led WNMU with 13 points.


Just like other patterns throughout the game, BHSU always seemed to have a run up their sleeves and this time was no different as they came back with a 9-0 run to boost the lead up to 16, 56-40, with 11:02 to play.


WNMU refused to go away quietly, as freshman point guard Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley High School) drilled an open jumper to pull the Lady Mustangs to within nine at 59-50 with still 7:47 to go. The Lady Mustangs kept coming as just a few minutes later, junior center Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) collected an offensive rebound and hit the ensuing jumper leaving the deficit at just six, 65-59, with 3:24 to play.


Yet again BHSU had another run ready and this one would be too much to overcome as a 9-0 spurt put the game away for the Yellow Jackets.


Mitchell hit three, 3-pointers on her way to leading the Lady Mustangs with 13 points. Hernandez also reached double-figures with 12 points and just missed a double-double with a team-high nine rebounds. Newsome led the Lady Mustangs in assists (6) and tied for the team-high in steals with junior guard Desiree Young (North Ogden, UT/Weber High School) as both had four.


Courtney Patterson led BHSU and all-scorers going for 21 points. BHSU shot 21-of-49 (42.9) to WNMU's 22-of-66 (33.3) from the field. WNMU held an 8-6 edge in three-pointers and the Yellow Jackets had a huge advantage at the foul line making 32-of-41 to just 11-of-16 for WNMU. WNMU held a 10-2 advantage on the offensive glass which led to a 12-1 second-chance points dominance.


WNMU will play at Chadron State College Saturday night at 5:30 p.m. The Eagles collected their second win of the season in a double-overtime 102-99 victory over New Mexico Highlands earlier tonight.