SILVER CITY, N.M. – Although Chadron State College came back to tie the game three times, the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team never trailed as they led by as many as 17 on their way to the 65-55 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.

Following an early four-all tie, Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) triggered a 9-0 run with a layup off the fastbreak. RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) then came down and hit a pull up three and then Ashley Mitchell (Fort Defiance, AZ/Window Rock High School) came through with a layup and a pair of foul shots to move the lead to 13-4 at the 13:53 mark.

CSC (3-12, 3-8 RMAC) would come back to cut the deficit back to two at 19-17 and eventually tie the game for the third time in the opening 20 minutes at 23 with 2:27 to play.

WNMU (8-7, 6-6 RMAC) then closed the rest of the half strong with Newsome connecting on another fastbreak jumper and baskets by Mitchell and Moore had the Lady Mustangs with a 29-25 halftime lead.

WNMU had a solid advantage on points off turnovers (10-7) and second-chance (10-2).

WNMU would control most of the second half, moving the lead back to nine just over four minutes in on a layup in transition by Botelho. The strong half continued as Desiree Young (North Ogden, UT/Weber High School) drilled a three, Botelho with a pair of jumpers had the Lady Mustangs with their largest lead of 17 at 52-35 near the midway point of the second stanza.

The Lady Eagles would make a late run to get as close as seven with four to play, but WNMU came through with a clutch shot by Young, as her triple helped move the lead back to 10 and push WNMU to the victory.

 Botelho led four Lady Mustangs in double-figures with 14. Newsome, Mitchell and Moore all added 12 apiece. WNMU shot 39.7 (25-63) from the field, which included five three-pointers and went 10-of-14 (71.4) from the foul line. WNMU forced 23 turnovers and turned those into 22 points.

Allegria Chisom led the Lady Eagles with 10 points as CSC shot 43.4 (23-53) percent and again the WNMU three-point defense held strong limiting the Lady Eagles to a 2-for-14 (14.3) effort. WNMU came in leading the nation in three-point defense.

The win moved WNMU above .500 and also gives them six conference wins, just one short of last year's total. At 6-6 in the RMAC, the Lady Mustangs are just a half-game back of four teams tied for fifth in CSU-Pueblo, Regis, Fort Lewis and Colorado Christian.

WNMU will have a home non-conference game on Tuesday against Northern New Mexico beginning at 6 p.m.