WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State returns home from an arduous four-game road trip and seeks a measure of revenge as it hosts Eastern New Mexico on Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. The Greyhounds won the first meeting of the season in Portales, 65-61.

The Mustangs rallied from a 15-point deficit to take a 59-58 lead with 1:25 remaining at Greyhound Arena on Jan. 13, but Deja Adrian hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch and scored 16 points as ENMU snapped a seven-game losing streak with its four-point win over the Mustangs. Adrian also had 10 rebounds in the victory for the Greyhounds.

Midwestern State (5-16, 5-10) head coach Brenita Jackson describes the Greyhounds as extremely explosive and streaky.

"They're an extremely athletic team. They have a lot of hybrid players that can play multiple positions, so that can be difficult," Jackson said. "They're somewhat positionless because they can play multiple positions. You have girls that you think would play guard, and they are playing more of a forward position. It can cause matchup problems for your team if you have a back-to-the-basket traditional post now guarding someone who is technically a guard."

Eastern New Mexico (7-13, 3-11) and MSU are both still fighting for an opportunity to play in March.

Midwestern State is in a three-way tie with Cameron and Texas A&M-Kingsville for ninth place, one game behind eighth place Arkansas-Fort Smith.

The Mustangs are scoring 65.7 points per game this season, and opponents are scoring 76.4 points per game against MSU.

Zarria Carter is leading Midwestern State and is fourth in the Lone Star Conference with 17 points per game, and she is the leading rebounder in the conference with 10.6 rebounds per game. The 6-1 junior from Mansfield, Texas, has posted 10 double-doubles this season. Only Ashley Ingram of Texas Woman's has more in the LSC with 11 this season. Carter just missed a double-double in Portales, where she scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Mustangs. In nine games at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, Carter is averaging 14.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per game.

Amos is the eighth-leading scorer in the LSC with 14.8 points per game, and she sits 15th in the conference with 6.5 rebounds per game. The 5-9 swingman is 11th in the conference with two steals per game.

Makayla Coy, who is scoring 9.3 points per game for the Mustangs, is the seventh-leading rebounder in the conference with 7.6 boards per game. Coy scored a career-high 33 points against Tampa earlier this season. The 5-11 senior has five double-doubles this season, including 16 points and 10 rebounds at West Texas A&M. Coy hit the game-winning shot in a 76-74 victory at Oklahoma Christian with 15 seconds remaining.

Catalina Cortez has the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the LSC at 2.40 and leads the Mustangs with 2.9 assists per game. Cortez is playing 31.5 minutes a game. The 5-2 sophomore has hit a 3-pointer in each of her last 10 games and was 1 for 4 from beyond the arc in Portales.

Nikki Green and Coy are tied as the third-leading scorer for Midwestern State with 9.3 points per game. Green is 29 of 102 from 3-point range (.284) this season. The 5-6 junior from Dallas (Richardson HS) had five points and six rebounds at ENMU earlier this season.

Midwestern State is the second-best rebounding team in the LSC with 39.05 rebounds per game. The Mustangs lead the conference and are 21st among NCAA Division II programs with 15.4 offensive rebounds per game.

Carter is hitting 80.7 percent of her free throws, which ranks eighth in the league, and she has attempted the third-most free throws in the LSC with 114. As a team, MSU is shooting 20.1 free throws per game, which is fifth-most in the conference, and has the 10th-best free-throw percentage at 72.0.

The Mustangs have the second-fewest turnovers in the LSC with 13.8 per game and are ninth in the league with a 0.75 assists-to-turnover ratio. MSU forces 15.14 turnovers and the plus-1.33 turnover margin is eighth-best in the conference.

Midwestern State leads the all-time series with Eastern New Mexico, 31-25, but the Greyhounds have won eight of the last 12 meetings. The Mustangs are 18-8 when hosting ENMU and won the last encounter at D.L. Ligon Coliseum, 83-77, in January of 2023. Maya Kendall scored a career-high 14 points and was 3 of 6 from 3-point range in the victory.

Eastern New Mexico is scoring 60.2 points per game, and opponents are scoring 64.1 points per game against the Greyhounds.

Eastern New Mexico forces 19.10 turnovers per game, which is third-most in the LSC, and Jamila Nansikombi-Gunter is averaging 2.5 steals per game, which is third in the conference.

The Greyhounds have the worst assist-to-turnover ratio in the league at 0.59.

Jaz Salon is hitting 1.7 3-pointers per game for the Greyhounds and is shooting 37.4 percent (34-of-91) from long distance. As a team, ENMU is shooting 27.8 percent from beyond the arc, which is 11th in the LSC. Opponents are shooting 34.4 percent from 3-point range, and ENMU is 15th in 3-point percentage defense.

Ishuana Hunter, who is shooting 49.7 percent from the field, is scoring 15.9 points per game to lead the Greyhounds. Hunter is also the leading rebounder with 7.3 boards per game.
Adrian, who is scoring 13 points per game, is 87 of 111 from the free-throw line (78.4 percent). She has taken the fourth-most free throws in the LSC and has the fourth-most makes from the foul line. Her free-throw percentage is ninth in the conference. Adrian is shooting 43.1 percent from the field.

Nansikombi-Gunter is the third leading scorer for ENMU with 10.6 points per game and is shooting 43.2 percent from the field.

Adrian and Nansikombi-Gunter are both averaging 5.3 rebounds per game for the Greyhounds.

ENMU is 15th among LSC schools in field-goal percentage defense as opponents are shooting 44.9 percent against the Greyhounds.

Blake Huber became the head coach at Eastern New Mexico University in June 2023.

Huber spent the 2022-23 season as the head coach at Texas A&M-Texarkana, where he took the Eagles to a 29-2 (.935) mark, including an undefeated conference record, 20-0 (1.000). In his first season, he was named the Red River Conference Coach of the Year. He led the team to their first ever tournament appearance and victory, advancing to the second round of the NAIA national tournament with a win over Grand View.
Prior to his time in Texarkana, he spent two years as the assistant coach at Arkansas Tech where he served as the recruiting coordinator. With the Golden Suns, he helped the team earn the top seed in the east division of the Great American Conference in 2021 and advance to the South Central regional tournament. In 2021-22, the program went 16-13 and made it to the conference tournament championship game with a pair of postseason wins.

Brenita Jackson is in her first season leading Midwestern State and boasts a career record of 57-28 (.671) after two highly successful campaigns at Texas Wesleyan, where she won 80 percent of her games (52-13). Jackson coached junior college basketball for five seasons. She was 69-78 at Lon Morris, Cisco and San Jacinto combined. Jackson led the Ravens to a 23-7 record in her second season at San Jacinto after the team went 3-25 in the 2013-14 campaign.

Midwestern State plays Western New Mexico in the Ovarian Cancer Awareness Game on Saturday at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--