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Western New Mexico University Athletics

Western New Mexico University Athletics
Jade Botelho
Jay Hemphill, WNMU
Jade Botelho scored a game-high 19 points against West Texas A&M.
72
Winner West Texas A&M WTAMU 15-6, 8-4 LSC
52
Western N.M. WNMU 4-15, 0-12 LSC
Winner
West Texas A&M WTAMU
15-6, 8-4 LSC
72
Final
52
Western N.M. WNMU
4-15, 0-12 LSC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
West Texas A&M WTAMU 19 16 22 15 72
Western N.M. WNMU 10 10 13 19 52

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Botelho Helps Lady Mustangs Stay Close With West Texas A&M

SILVER CITY, N.M. – Having lost a difficult game earlier this season to West Texas A&M, the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team showed a lot of fight and energy as they stayed with the Lady Buffs until the end when West Texas A&M claimed the 72-52 Lone Star Conference victory Saturday afternoon.

Junior Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani ) started strong and finished with 19 points, along with three rebounds to pace WNMU (4-15, 0-12 LSC). Senior Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley ) added nine points and junior Keshaun Clark (Avondale, AZ/Agua Fria) tallied eight. Sophomore Megan Looney (Phoenix, AZ/Apache Junction ) grabbed a team-high six rebounds and added four points.

WT (15-6, 8-4 LSC) opened the game with the first four points just over a minute in. The Lady Mustangs got on the board on the next trip down the floor when Botelho hit a jumper in the paint off the fastbreak.

Although WNMU wasn't able to ever gain the lead, they came close on several occasions. Looney hit a jumper in the paint to get back to within one and then back-to-back jumpers by both Clark and Botelho had the deficit back to one at 9-8.

Botelho drew the Lady Mustangs the closest they could get at the 3:27 mark when she hit another jumper to leave WNMU to within at point at 11-10.

The Lady Buffs closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to take the 19-10 lead into the second quarter.

Trailing by 11 early in the second quarter, Botelho and Clark combined for another pair of jumpers to cut the deficit back to seven at 23-16 with 5:39 to play in the first half. Following a Clark jumper to get to within eight at the 3:32 mark, the Lady Buffs caught fire to close the half going on a 9-2 run to open a 35-20 lead at the break.

Botelho and Gutierrez had the Lady Mustangs back to within 17 early in the third quarter, but West Texas A&M just kept coming as they held the 22-13 advantage in the third quarter to open a 55-35 lead heading into the fourth.

WNMU ended up outscoring the Lady Buffs by four (19-15) over the final 10 minutes.

With the big size advantage that the Lady Buffs had inside, they dominated points in the paint at 44-22. Bench points also were key as they held the 33-7 edge. Fastbreak points were limited with WT holding the slight 4-2 advantage and they also led on second-chance points (15-10) and points off turnovers (14-11).

WNMU made 24-63 (38) from the field, 4-15 (27) from three and didn't attempt a foul shot all game long. The second half was a good 20 minutes shooting-wise as the Lady Mustangs made just under 50 percent (14-29).

WT connected on 29-53 (55) from the field, 5-14 (36) from three and 9-11 (82) at the foul line. They also had a big second half making 16-25 (64).

Lexy Hightower led WT with 12 points, while Maddison Wild also reached double-figures with 10 points. Three players scored nine points in Alie Decker, Cece Wooten and Bailey Thiel. Wooten nearly tallied a double-double as she brought down 11 rebounds.

WNMU will hit the road this week as they will play at Texas A&M-Commerce on Thursday night starting at 5:30 p.m. before finishing the week on Saturday versus Tarleton State beginning at 2 p.m. Both start times are Central Standard.
 
 
 
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