SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Cowgirls held a one-point lead at halftime, but the Mustangs put a late second-half rally for the win as New Mexico Highlands (6-20, 5-17 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) lost a defensive battle with Western New Mexico (14-12, 11-11 RMAC) 51-45 Saturday afternoon in Silver City, New Mexico.
With Highlands clinging to a 31-30 lead, senior
Emma Hart hit a jumper with 17:08 left in the game. Both teams went scoreless in the next 1:30 before senior
Claudia Meneses hit a pair of free throws to give the Cowgirls their largest lead of the game. Stephanie Moore for the Mustangs answered with a jumper to ignite an 8-0 run to put Western New Mexico in the lead for good.
Junior
Brittany Brown led the team with 14 points while redshirt freshman
Michelle Tapia added 14 rebounds and nine points. Meneses added nine boards. The Cowgirls were held to 26.8 percent (15-56) shooting for the game, their lowest of the season.
However, Highlands outrebounded their opponents 48-34, including 16-7 in offensive boards, their highest rebounding margin in a game this season.
After Moore's jumper cut the lead to three, Moore made a layup to cut deeper into the Highlands advantage. Nalani Hernandez made two from the charity stripe to give the Mustangs the lead with 14 minutes left in the game. Both team went scoreless in the next three minutes before Jade Botelho hit a jumper.
Western New Mexico kept Highlands at a distance by finishing the game 3-for-6 from the free throw line.
Both Moore (15 points) and Hernandez (12 points) narrowly missed the double-double, adding nine rebounds for the home team.
