SILVER CITY, N.M. – Although the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team will be at home this weekend, a pair of teams sitting near the top of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings will be coming in.
On Friday, by bringing a new, unwrapped toy admission will be free to the game as all gifts will be donated to Toys For Tots. On Saturday, admission will be free to the games.
The only unbeaten team left in the RMAC in CSU-Pueblo and they will face the Lady Mustangs first on Friday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady ThunderWolves are 4-0 in the RMAC and 6-2 overall and are receiving votes in the latest WBCA Poll.
CSU-Pueblo defeated Adams State and Fort Lewis both by double-digits. The last two games against Regis and MSU Denver went down to the wire winning by four and one, respectively. All of their conference games so far have been played at home.
Ashley Piper leads three averaging in double-figures at 14.5 per game. Katie Nehf adds 12 per game, while Angie Moore tallies 11.1. Nehf and Piper also lead the way in rebounds with both averaging nearly eight as Nehf has 8.3 and Piper at 7.9.
The Lady ThunderWolves took both games last season and have won the last 14 in the series. The last win for WNMU came back on Feb. 22, 2007 at home collecting a 59-56 victory.
The next night on Saturday also at 5:30 p.m. WNMU will host UC-Colorado Springs. The Lady Mountain Lions are 3-1 in the RMAC and 8-2 overall. They had won six straight prior to falling to Regis this past Saturday, 92-89. They have conference wins against Fort Lewis, Adams State and MSU Denver all by at least 27 points. Just like CSU-Pueblo, UCCS has played every conference game at home so far.
Abby Kirckoff has already won several awards to start the season and is averaging 22.8 points per game which leads the RMAC. She makes nearly 50 percent of her shots (74-152, 48.7 percent) from the field and from three-point range (30-65, 46.2 percent) and averages 4.7 rebounds, 42 assists, five blocks and 18 steals. Brittany Hernandez is nearly averaging a double-double with 18.2 points and 9.5 rebounds.
The teams split last year's meetings with UCCS claiming the first win at home in OT, 79-75, before WNMU came back with a 77-62 win in Silver City.
WNMU (4-3 Overall, 2-2 RMAC) are coming off of a pair of close road losses against Colorado Mesa and Western State.
Ashley Mitchell (Fort Defiance, AZ/Window Rock High School) continues to lead the way in terms of scoring at 12 points per game.
Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani High School) (8.7) and
Stephanie Douthit (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Mountain ) (8.1) are next on the scoring list.
RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) leads in assists (43), steals (13) and averages 7.6 points and 3.4 rebounds.
Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) leads in rebounds at 7.7 per contest and in blocks with three. Newsome leads the RMAC in assists, while Hernandez leads in defensive rebounds. In the games this past weekend, Botelho led the way against the Lady Mavericks with 14 points, while Mitchell then led the team with 14 points against the Lady Mountaineers.
Live video and stats will be available for both games.
