by By Brian Kortz, WNMU Athletics
GOLDEN, Colo. – Just tenths of a second away from victory when a late foul call led to a pair of free throws to help push Colorado School of Mines past the Western New Mexico University women’s basketball team, 67-66, Saturday in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play.
WNMU (13-12, 10-11 RMAC) looked to have the game won after Ashley Mitchell (Navajo Nation) hit a foul shot with just four seconds remaining to give the Lady Mustangs a one-point lead. CSM (13-14, 8-13 RMAC) then went down the floor and when it appeared the buzzer had gone off to end the game, but a late foul call was whistled with two-tenths of a second remaining. Laura Tyree made the first to tie the game and after a WNMU timeout, she sank the second one to give the Lady Orediggers the one-point victory.
CSM held a 10-point lead near the midway point of the opening half, but WNMU was far from going away. Taylor McCauley (Cliff, NM/Cliff High School) hit a layup at the 1:15 mark to trim the deficit to one before Mitchell drilled four straight foul shots to extend the lead to three, 42-39. CSM would get a layup before the end of the half to leave WNMU ahead, 42-41, at halftime.
RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) stretched the lead to five, 51-46, with a triple at the 14:43 mark of the second stanza. After a quick 4-0 run by CSM, WNMU jumped right back in front by six with Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) hitting a pair from the line, one from Mitchell and then a fastbreak layup by Ashley Witherspoon (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills High School) had the Lady Mustangs holding a 58-52 lead with 8:55 to play.
The Lady Orediggers would then come back to tie the game for the fifth time at 62 and took a brief two-point lead on a three by Sam Rusk with a minute to play. Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School) would answer tying the game up on the next trip down to setup the wild finish.
Mitchell played all 40 minutes and scored a game-high 25 points, going 12-of-16 from the foul line. She also led the team in rebounds with seven and assists with four. Courtney Martin led four Lady Orediggers in double-figures with 16 points.
Both teams shot around 40 percent from the field with WNMU making 20-of-48 (41.7) to a 24-of-58 (41.4) for CSM. CSM held an 8-5 edge on three-pointers, while WNMU dominated at the foul line holding a 21-11 advantage.
Despite the loss, WNMU is still very much alive for a possible spot in the RMAC Tournament field. Six of the eight spots have been clinched while Regis, MSU Denver and WNMU battle for the final two spots. Regis lost at Fort Lewis, while MSU Denver was upset at Adams State. This leaves Regis currently in seventh with an 11-9 RMAC record and MSU Denver in eighth with a 10-10 mark. WNMU is just a half-game back of MSU Denver for the final spot and hold the tiebreaker from their earlier win against them this season. Regis and MSU Denver have two games left against CSU-Pueblo and UC-Colorado Springs, while WNMU has just one game remaining.
The Lady Mustangs will close the regular season this coming Saturday at 2 p.m. against in-state rival New Mexico Highlands University. WNMU will also honor their seven seniors (RaTanya Newsome (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School), Ashley Witherspoon (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills High School),Desiree Young (North Ogden, UT/Weber High School), Stephanie Douthit (Phoenix, AZ/Desert Mountain ), Ashley Mitchell (Fort Defiance, AZ/Window Rock High School), Nalani Hernandez (Tucson, AZ/Tucson High School) and Stephanie Moore (Anton, TX/Anton High School).)
