Despite being held below their season scoring average, the Western women’s basketball team clawed out a 52-49 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) over New Mexico Highlights at home on Jan. 11. The victory stretched the team’s conference win streak to four games.
The Mountaineers entered the game with an average of 64.3 points per game, while the Cowgirls set a rate of 67.5 per game. Neither team reached those figures, in part due to a very cold night for the long-range shooters. Western went 0-for-10 from behind the arc, while Highlands hit just 2 of 14.
Ivey Schmidt led the way for Western with a game-high 20 points. Western held the lead for the majority of the game after a Jayda Maves driving layup in the first quarter lifted the Mountaineers in front, 6-4. Western carried the lead into the halftime break, ahead 25-24.
Highlands came out of the break and grasped the lead with the first 5 points of the third quarter. Consecutive layups from Rachel Cockman and Schmidt drew Western within a point. After a Cowgirl jumper, Schmidt scored 4 to give the team a 35-32 lead.
The Cowgirls battled back from a 9-point deficit halfway through the fourth to take the lead at 49-48 with a minute to play. But Natalie Jojola and Schmidt each dropped pairs of free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds.
Highlands had one last opportunity at the buzzer from a long 3-point attempt by Kapiolani Anitielu. But the shot was off the mark and preserved the win for Western.
Western put its RMAC win streak on the line with a home matchup against Colorado Mesa University on Jan. 14. Scores were not available by press time.
(Gregg Petcoff is the assistant athletics director for communications at Western Colorado University and can be reached at gpetcoff@western.edu.)
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