LAS VEGAS, N.M. – The Cowgirls are climbing ever closer to a lead at home at in 2014-15. While they have not accomplished that feat, New Mexico Highlands women's basketball team (2-3, 1-0 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) has turned it on in the second half for the second-straight game as they dealt Colorado Christian (0-7, 0-1 RMAC) a 78-70 setback.
The big advantage for Highlands came from the free throw line. Not necessarily numbers-wise, but the game was tied at halftime and the Cougars only went 4-11 from the charity stripe (36.4 percent) in the first stanze, raising it to 60.7 percent for the game by going 13-17 in the second half.
The Cowgirls were also to share the wealth in scoring and on the boards. Every Highlands player that made an appearance in the contest grabbed at least one rebound while all but one player scored on the day. The Cowgirls won the battle of the glass with 38 rebounds compared 32 for Colorado Christian.
The Cougars looked like it might grab control early, up 16-11 with 11:49 until the break. Senior
Eboni Jacobs hit a pair of free throws while sophomore
Giulia Simioni – who finished with a team-leading 16 points – contributed a fastbreak jumper. Senior
Anngelina Sanchez, who was second on the team in the game with 15 points, hit her lone triple of the night to give Highands an 18-16 lead. Neither team led by more than three the rest of the first half as the game stood tied at break for the 10th time in the game.
Colorado Christian scored the first basket of the second half, but layups by Simioni and senior
Claudia Meneses gave the Cowgirls the lead for good. Up 42-40 three minutes later, junior
Miranda Martinez – who came off the bench for 10 points – made a layup and then Meneses replicated that action to push the Highlands lead to 46-40 with 14:32 remaining. Meneses grabbed a game-leading nine boards. Up 50-45, Sanchez made a pair from the line and senior
Emma Hart made a layup to push the lead to 54-45, their biggest lead of the game.
The Cougars would not go away quietly and a three from game-leading scorer (19) Ryan Torres cut the deficit to one at 65-54. However, Martinez hit four-straight from the charity stripe to push the lead back to five.
Like Tuesday, the Cowgirls finished strong. Holding a 71-68 advantage with 2:40 left, the Cowgirls finished on a 7-2 run to complete the game. Simioni and Hart hit jumpers before the Cougars tallied their only score of the run. Brown added a driving layup and a backcourt turnover by Colorado Christian all but sealed the game. Brown split from the line in the final seconds for the final 8-point margin.
The Cowgirls return to action tomorrow at the Wilson Complex against Colorado School of Mines at 5 p.m.
