In a game that took two bus trips, an episode of getting stuck on the side of an icy road, and a minor re-working of their conference schedule, the UIW women finally were able to travel to Portales, New Mexico, play against Eastern New Mexico University, and end a short losing skid on Saturday, defeating the Zias, 62-50.
The victory makes the Cardinals 3-4 in Lone Star Conference South divisional play and 7-12 overall. The game in N.M. was originally supposed to be played on Wednesday night, but dangerous road conditions due to icy weather forced the two schools to reschedule the game to Saturday (and, thus, moving the game between the two squad that was supposed to be played at the McDermott Center to February 21st).
Incarnate Word took an early lead against ENMU and never surrendered it after taking a 5-4 lead at the 16:23-mark in the first half. The Zias only got as close as a five-point deficit the rest of the game, coming with 5:00 left in the game with the score 53-48. However, UIW outscored the home team, 9-2 the rest of the way for the victory.
Taylor Murray led UIW in scoring with 18 points, including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the three-point line and 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. She also had six rebounds and a steal.
Also playing big for Incarnate Word were Chloe Wallace, Ifunanya Mora and Rose Whitehead. Wallace scored 11 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while Mora had 11 boards to go with her six points and Whitehead scored nine points and fought for five rebounds.
The Cardinals will next face off against Tarleton State University on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. TSU and UIW faced off earlier this season, with the Cardinals falling 81-51 to the first place TexAnns in Stephenville, TX.
