Cowgirls lose first-half lead, fall to Mountaineers

LAS VEGAS, N.M. --- The New Mexico Highlands women's basketball team held a seven-point halftime lead, but second-half sharp shooting by Western Colorado led to a 69-51 loss Saturday night at Wilson Complex.
 
NMHU (3-13 overall, 1-8 RMAC) led the Mountaineers (10-3, 6-3) 29-22 at halftime after holding Western Colorado to 22.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc in the first half (2-for-9). The lead was as large as 15 for the Cowgirls at 29-14 after a Jordyn Lewis putback with 4:39 left in the second quarter, but the Mountaineers went on an 8-0 run to end the half to cut the deficit to seven.
 
Western Colorado tied the game 31-31 before a jumper by Allyah George with 6:26 left gave NMHU its final lead at 33-31. The Mountaineers' Samantha Coleman drained a 3-pointer on the teams' next possession and the lead grew to eight points by the end of the third at 48-40. Western Colorado outscored NMHU 21-11 in the fourth quarter to come away with the 18-point victory.
 
George led NMHU with 14 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals while Amari Terry had 12 points and DeAvion Allen had 11 points. The Cowgirls shot 40.4 percent from the field in the game, including 6-for-16 (37.5 percent) from 3-point range.
 
NMHU hits the road next as the Cowgirls take on Chadron State (Friday) and MSU Denver (Saturday) next week.