The losing skid is over for the Incarnate Word women's basketball team, as UIW fought back from a double-digit deficit to defeat Eastern New Mexico University, 58-57, at the McDermott Center on Monday night.
“A win is a win,” head coach Angela Lawson said. “I told the girls that a team is capable of coming back from a deficit like that, but it was amazing to see it happen tonight.”
Chloe Wallace scored 16 points and Kaylin Dugie scored 10 points. Ifunanya Mora grabbed 10 rebounds and scored 10 points for a double-double.
However, key to the Cardinals' (8-16 overall, 4-8 Lone Star Conference) comeback was the play of Amy Wilson, who saw her most substantial amount of minutes in her UIW career with 14 minutes. But, in that 14 minutes, she hit two three pointers on consecutive possessions to tie the game at 52-52 with 5:39 to play.
“Seeing a walk-on player get out there and come up big the way she did was great,” Lawson said. “She gave us a huge emotional boost and those shots she hit were definitely key to us coming out with the win.”
But, after getting the score tied by Wilson's shots, ENMU got another three-point lead, 57-54. The Cardinals responded by hitting a jumper courtesy of Mora at the 0:34-mark on the scoreboard, but she missed her and-one free throw attempt that would have tied the game.
However, on the rebound from Mora's missed free throw, Wallace came down with the rebound and was fouled by an Eastern New Mexico player and went to the free throw line and drained both of her free throws for the 58-57 lead.
Then, it was all a matter of UIW surviving a final shot attempt in the closing seconds.
The victory ended a four-game losing streak for Incarnate Word. The team will get on the bus and head to West Texas A&M for a Wednesday night contest in Canyon. The Cardinals return to the McDermott Center on Saturday for a 2 p.m. season-finale against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
