Silver City, NM - The Western New Mexico University Mustangs prepped at home to play against the Angelo State University Rams, Thursday evening at Drag's Court. In a nail-biting match up, the Rams came out on top with the win.
The Mustangs started the game off with great footwork and ball movement. WNMU saw strong leadership from senior Mustang veteran
Cassandra Vickery (Tularosa, NM/Tularosa HS) early on in the game. Vickery ended the first quarter with 4 points, shooting 100% from the field goal range, 1 assist, and 2 rebounds. Mustangs trailed 11-19. By the second quarter, senior
Destiney Johnson (El Paso, TX/Parkland HS) decided she was going to lead by example and went on a 3-0 run from the field goal range herself. Johnson also shot 100% from the field goal range, earned 6 points, and had 1 rebound in the second quarter. Through minimizing turnovers and capitalizing on the Ram's errors, the Mustangs cut the gap in the score to 27-28, trailing by one point at the end of the first half.
In the third quarter, the Mustangs exemplified on their aggressive defense with multiple blocks from junior
Zyan Smith (Queen Creek, AZ/Mesquite High School ) and sophomore
Alina Simon (Killeen, TX/Ellison High School). As the Rams tried to pull away to help secure the win, the Mustangs fought back harder to put an hault to ASU's offense. Despite strong offensive movements from ASU, WNMU cut the lead to 45-43 as the Rams continued to control the game. Sophomore
Cynaye Bobbitt (Killeen, TX/Harker Heights HS) as fouled a few times after taking aggresive drives and shot 100% from the free throw line. The Mustangs were closing in on the Rams with 6 minutes and 27 seconds left on the clock and tied the game 48-48. Costly turnovers would give the Rams' #24 Ashlynn Sharp the chance to drain two three-pointers to give ASU a larger lead. In a heartbreaking loss, the Angelo State Rams defeated the Mustangs 61-53.
Veteran players for the Mustangs took control over the offensive side and gained control of offensive plays for the team to run. Every player on the Mustangs that played a minute in the game scored at least two points, which is a great collective teamwork innitative from the team. The team totales 9 blocks on the evening and 6 steals. Unfortunately, the Rams out-rebounded the Mustangs 44 to 39 and had 10 less turnovers than WNMU.
Mustangs to Highlight:
Zyan Smith (Queen Creek, AZ/Mesquite High School ) - (10 pts, 4 reb, 1 stl, 3 blk)
Cynaye Bobbitt (Killeen, TX/Harker Heights HS) - (10 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast)
Alina Simon (Killeen, TX/Ellison High School) - (9 pts, 11 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 4 blk)
Destiney Johnson (El Paso, TX/Parkland HS) - (8 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl)
WNMU will be back at home against University of Texas Permian Basin, Saturday, February 5th, with tip-off at 2:00 PM MT.
This game recap is presented by First American Bank. First American Bank is a proud supporter of WNMU Athletics!
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