by SILVER CITY, N.M. – All sixteen players scored and the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team held the University of the Southwest to 18 percent shooting on their way to claiming the 83-26 victory Thursday evening.
The Lady Mustangs (1-0) got going a few minutes in with Ashley Mitchell (Navajo Nation) hitting a jumper four minutes in to put WNMU back in front by four, 6-2. That would trigger a 14-0 run with Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School), Mitchell, Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley High School), Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani High School) and Stephanie Douthit (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Mountain ) pouring in points for the 18-2 lead near the midway point of the first half.
The lead stretched to 21 on a layup in transition by My’Kale French (Racine, WI/Case High School) and following a basket by University of the Southwest on the next trip down the floor to make it 29-10, the Lady Mustangs would hold USW (0-7) scoreless the rest of the half.
French, Lucy Benning (El Paso, TX/El Paso High School), Audrey Oliver (Las Cruces, NM/Mayfield High School), Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School), Moore and RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) collected points during the run, a couple coming on the fastbreak leaving WNMU ahead, 41-10, at halftime.
WNMU dominated in all categories including points in the paint (18-4), points off turnovers (19-2), forcing 19 turnovers to only committing six, second-chance points (10-0), fastbreak points (16-2) and bench (24-0). The Lady Mustangs connected on 17-of-38 (44.7), while holding USW to a 4-for-21 (19) effort. WNMU made three, three-pointers and held a 4-2 edge at the foul line.
The second half was the same story with WNMU holding a 42-16 scoring edge. Newsome, Ashley Witherspoon (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills High School) and Taylor McCauley (Cliff, NM/Cliff High School) hit shots a few minutes into the second half to boost the lead to 42, 56-14. The run would continue with Gutierrez dialing long distance and Botelho a layup at the 12:15 mark for a 61-14 lead.
Douthit drilled a three near the midway point of the half to give WNMU a 50-point lead and later a Cristiana Yepa (Dulce, NM/Dulce High School) three-pointer gave WNMU their largest lead of the night of 58 at 83-25.
Mitchell and Douthit led the Lady Mustangs with 11 points apiece. Gutierrez added nine points. McCauley led the way with seven rebounds. Botelho collected five steals.
Amber Zubiate ended up as the leading scorer tallying 13 points for USW.
WNMU will head to Albuquerque this Saturday when they will play in The Pit against Eastern New Mexico beginning at 4 p.m.
