by SILVER CITY, N.M. – Hot shooting from three-point range and forcing 26 turnovers powered the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team to an 80-51 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference victory Saturday night.
Outside shooting was on in the first half for the Lady Mustangs (4-1, 2-0 RMAC) as they connected on 8-of-10 from the floor, while limiting Colorado Christian (0-8, 0-2 RMAC) to just one three-pointer in six tries. Stephanie Douthit (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Mountain ) almost couldn’t miss from the outside as she made 3-of-4, including her first three. Ashley Mitchell (Navajo Nation) connected on both of hers, while RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School), Desiree Young (North Ogden, UT/Weber High School) and Jordan Gutierrez (Albuquerque, NM/Valley High School) all added a three of their own. WNMU as a team shot 61.5 percent in the first half, making 16-of-26.
Ahead by three five minutes in, Gutierrez opened up the lead for the Lady Mustangs connecting on her triple at the 14:07 mark.
Douthit and Newsome then got loose for a pair of back-to-back three’s to expand the lead to 10, 21-11. The lead would move to 16 on another Douthit deep ball before Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) drilled a jumper in the paint to give the Lady Mustangs their largest lead of the first half of 18, 33-15.
WNMU would reach their high mark of 18 a few more times over the remainder of the half before taking a 43-27 lead into the locker rooms.
It was much of the same in the second half, as the Lady Mustangs carried the momentum right over with Young and Mitchell dialing long distance and then Young tallying a jumper for an 8-0 run over the first 2:31.
The lead would get as high as 29 at the 13:03 mark when Douthit drilled another three.
After the Cougars made a run, WNMU would quickly push the lead back into the 20’s with My’Kale French (Racine, WI/Case High School) extending the lead back to 29 with a jumper.
Ashley Witherspoon (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills High School) provided the final basket with a fastbreak layup to give WNMU the 29-point victory.
Mitchell and Douthit led the way as they both poured in season-highs. Mitchell tallied 23 to lead all-scorers, making four three-pointers. Douthit came off the bench to record 18 points, also making four three-pointers. Jade Botelho (Honolulu, HI/Iolani High School) came off the bench to reach double-figures with 13 points. Newsome led the way in assists with 10, while Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds and also led the way in steals with four.
WNMU finished shooting 50 percent (28-56), including a 12-of-19 (63.2) effort from three-point range. The Lady Mustangs also had solid advantages in points off turnovers (32-9), second-chance (15-8), fastbreak (19-10) and bench (38-18).
Kate Louthan led CCU with 13 points.
WNMU will hit the road next week as they will play at Colorado Mesa and Western State beginning with the Mavericks on Firday night at 5:30 p.m.
