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Western New Mexico University Athletics

Western New Mexico University Athletics
Ciara Fields
54
Western N.M. WNMU 0-2
76
Winner Newman NU 2-0
Western N.M. WNMU
0-2
54
Final
76
Newman NU
2-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Western N.M. WNMU 7 17 19 11 54
Newman NU 29 22 10 15 76

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Brian Kortz

Big First Quarter Holds up for Newman Against Women’s Basketball

CLAREMORE, Okla. – Behind a first quarter in which Newman University outscored the Western New Mexico University women's basketball team 29-7, that would end up being the difference in the game as the Lady Mustangs stayed even with the Jets over the final three quarters before Newman claimed the 76-54 victory during the final game of the Conference Challenge Saturday.

WNMU (0-2) had a big third quarter in which they outscored Newman (2-0) 19-10 and pulled back to within 15 before the Jets were able to tally the victory.

Freshman Rachel Francisco (Seattle, WA/Holy Names Academy) continued to have the hot hand from yesterday as she put the first points on the board for the Lady Mustangs with a three-pointer three minutes in to trim the deficit to one, 4-3. She would later add a jumper during a 17-2 run by the Jets to move out to a 21-5 lead with three minutes to play in the first quarter.

Newman continued with the pressure as an 8-2 run closed the quarter to give the Jets a 29-7 lead through the first 10 minutes of play. They used points in the paint (12-4), points off turnovers (8-0) and bench points (12-0) to build the advantage.

Junior Ciara Fields (El Paso, TX/El Dorado) registered the first points for the Lady Mustangs in the second quarter with a free throw 32 seconds in. Similar to the first quarter, Newman kept the offense going as they outscored WNMU 22-17 to take a 51-24 lead into halftime.

Out of the break, WNMU got things going. Senior Melody McLaughlin (Tucson, AZ/Mountain View), playing against her former team, opened the second half with a pair from the line. Junior Takiyah Lopez (El Paso, TX/Chapin) added a three-pointer to give WNMU a 5-0 run through the first two minutes.

Freshman Cassandra Vickery (Tularosa, NM/Tularosa) and senior Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani) combined on back-to-back buckets late in the quarter to cut the deficit to 19. McLaughlin and Botelho closed the third quarter with a pair of jumpers to get to within 15 before a three-pointer by Bria DeGrate boosted Newman to a 61-43 lead heading into the final frame.

Junior Ashton Carrasco (El Paso, TX/Canutillo) kept it an 18-point deficit with a jumper two minutes in, but the Jets answered with a 5-0 run on their way to claiming the win.

Fields paced the Lady Mustangs with 16 points, making 5-11 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. She also had six rebounds, a block and three steals. McLaughlin added eight points, four rebounds and four steals. Senior Myla Woods-Brown (Roswell, NM/Roswell) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Hannah Alexander led the Jets with 21 points, while Nia Roberts added 14 points and Abbey George with 10. George nearly had a double-double with eight rebounds.

WNMU made 20-76 (26) from the field, 5-26 (19) from three and 9-17 (53) from the foul line. Newman made 26-65 (40) from the field, 4-18 (22) from three and a perfect 20-20 from the charity stripe. WNMU held the edge on second-chance points (17-14), while Newman had a big edge on fastbreak points (20-2) and bench points (37-16).

WNMU will return to action on Nov. 17 when they will play at Lubbock Christian starting at 6 p.m. Central Time.
 
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