The long trip to oblivion is over. Western New Mexico's women's basketball team finally broke into the win column Saturday night as they took Chadron State to the mat, 67-61, in Silver City. In a battle of "Oh-fers" in RMAC conference play, one of the two teams would emerge with the win. It was a battle to the end, but WNMU finally prevailed with gutty defense down the stretch. The Mustangs now stand at 1-15 (1-11 RMAC) while the Eagles fall to 2-13 (0-11 RMAC).
Chadron State held a slim one-point margin at the intermission, 25-24, in a cold-shooting opening stanza. CSC was 33 percent from the floor to WNMU's 30, but the Mustangs did manage to connect on three trifectas while the Eagles went 0 for13 from beyond the arc.
The second half saw both teams shoot above 40 percent, but WNMU got seven additional threes to Chadron's two. The Mustangs actually shot a sensational 50 percent from three-point land for the game.
Chadron held a 45-41 rebounding advantage, but they also suffered 19 turnovers to WNMU's 13.
The Mustangs were led by
Morgan Wohltman's (Queen Creek, AZ, Highland High School, Idaho State University) 19 points -- 15 of which were threes.
Christa Kennedy (Soldatna, AK, Soldatna High School), was also solid with 16, and
Jaleesa Russell (Albuquerque, NM, Sandia High School) added 10.
The Eagles were led by Kada Williams' 14 and Lexi Smidt's 12.
The Mustangs play just once next week ... a road clash with intra-state rival New Mexico Highlands on Saturday, January 22.
