Silver City, NM – The Western New Mexico Mustangs matched up against the Eastern New Mexico University Greyhounds Thursday evening at Drag's Court. The close game ended with 55-49 as Eastern New Mexico University defeated Western New Mexico University. 
 
Right off the start, the Mustangs were starting the game ready to compete hard as both teams kept scoring back to back. Senior Kaela Chavez (Las Cruces, NM/Centennial HS) took no hesitation of splashing a three from downtown one minute into the game clock. Mustangs were holding a steady little by the middle of the first quarter totaling 9-5 against the Greyhounds. Sophomore Olivia Lee (Peoria, AZ/Cactus HS) really show cased her defensive skills putting up a monster block giving the Mustangs more momentum. Quarter one ended 19-13 as the Mustangs trailed by 7 points.
 
The second quarter of the game was a game of rebounding  that was unfortunately not the favor of the Mustangs. Mustangs were being out rebounded by the Greyhounds 9-19 in the middle of the second quarter, making it difficult for WNMU to set a pace for their offense. The Greyhounds took the Mustangs to the end of halftime leading 41-25. 
 
The third quarter would show WNMU's offensive spark to want to stay in the game. Senior Kaela Chavez (Las Cruces, NM/Centennial HS) and senior Destiney Johnson (El Paso, TX/Parkland HS) would make two back to back three pointers to give the Mustangs a 6-0 run. WNMU was able to cut the lead to 45-36 for ENMU by the end of the third quarter.
 
Battling hard in the fourth quarter, the Mustang defense tried to put a stop to the Greyhound offense and closed in on the lead trailing 44-49 to the Greyhounds. A pair of unstoppable step back jumpers from both senior Destiney Johnson (El Paso, TX/Parkland HS) and sophomore Zyan Smith (Queen Creek, AZ/Mesquite High School ) showed the teams grit to be in the game. In the end, the Mustangs fell just short giving ENMU the victory, 49-55.
 
WNMU shot much better than ENMU from behind the arc with a solid 33.3% shooting percentage from behind the arc in comparison to 16.7% from their rival school. Mustangs had fouled almost double the amount that the Greyhounds had. Struggling to keep the ball long enough to run an offensive play and missing needed shorts was the issue from the Mustangs tonight.
 
WNMU will stay home for another match against Lubbock Christian University, Saturday December 11^th at 2:00 pm MT. 
 
 
Mustangs Highlights:
Destiney Johnson (El Paso, TX/Parkland HS) – 11 points, 2 blks, 7 reb
Abigail Walter (Fort Worth, TX/Nolan Catholic HS)- 9 points, 4 stls, 2 assists, 3 reb
Zyan Smith (Queen Creek, AZ/Mesquite High School )- 8 pts, 1 stl, 3 assists, 6 reb
 
This game recap is presented by First American Bank. First American Bank is a proud supporter of WNMU Athletics!