By: Johna McClelland
The Eastern New Mexico University women’s basketball team is hoping to defy the odds again this season. Last year’s team finished as co-champions of the Lone Star Conference and was the first team in school history to make it to the regional tournament. From the team last year, ten players have returned.
Some notable returners to this year’s team are All Conference First Team and All Academic Player Mikaehla Connor, better known as KK, All conference Third Team and two time Defensive Player of the week Daeshi McCants. Along with those two, five other players that are returning have substantial starting experience. All of these factors are key when looking at the type of season that the Lady Hounds should have this year. Head Coach, Josh Prock, had this to say about his returners, “It is exciting to have so much experience coming back on this year’s team. We have worked very hard to build this program and to be at a point where we have some many young ladies coming back it is truly exciting. All of our returners provide tremendous assets and we are looking forward to getting started with all of them.”
To complement the ten returners for the Lady Hounds, are the five incoming freshmen. Coach Prock is very excited about what he has seen from the freshman so far this year. “Our new freshmen class has been amazing thus far. They are very coachable young ladies, and we are looking forward to what each one of them will be able to bring to the table. They are all very talented with tremendous work ethic. We are all very excited about the future of Greyhound Women’s Basketball.”
To introduce the freshmen, we will start in the post position. Leading off is one of the top players to come out of New Mexico, from Hope Christian in Albuquerque, Alivia Lewis. Another first year post player and one of the best to come out of Texas, from Littlefield, Kaylee Edgemon. Also out of Texas playing the point guard position from Spring Branch, Jena Mehlbrech. Rounding out the incoming freshmen for the 2017-18 season are Lindsi Coburn from Farwell, Texas and Madison Tarbet from Petersburg, Texas.
The 2016-17 team broke a lot of records and changed the outlook of ENMU athletics. For the first time in a long time, people were excited to see their local team winning and making a name for themselves nationwide. This team was pre-season ranked as seventh out of nine teams in the Lone Star Conference. That’s quite a bit different than where they actually finished at number one tied with Angelo State University. For the first time in several years, the women won at West Texas A&M, Angelo State University, and Tarleton State University. Although the end of the season didn’t go as the Lady Hounds had planned, getting knocked out of the conference tournament in the first game and then again in the regional tournament, it still ended up being a year of triumphs. The community and fans alike are excited to see what the Lady Hounds will bring to the table this year.
The Lady Hounds will begin their season at The University of Arizona on October 30th, and then they will play at the University of New Mexico on November first.
Unfortunately, the ENMU women will not play inside Greyhound Arena until Thursday November 30th against the University of Texas Permian Basin. This will be an exciting year for Greyhound Athletics, so be sure to go out and support all of the teams as they fight to change the expectation of ENMU Athletics.
