Las Vegas, N.M.-Black Hills State falls to New Mexico Highlands for the first time ever 77-63 as the Yellow Jackets fall to 6-1 in RMAC play and 10-4 overall. It was the first RMAC loss of the season for the Yellow Jackets who shot 46.8 percent from the field and went 2-13 from three-point range in the John A. Wilson Complex.
Despite having a 34-23 lead in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets allowed a 27-6 run which gave New Mexico Highlands the means to take it to the finish line. The Yellow Jackets struggled to rebound late only having eight rebounds in the second half while allowing 22, including nine offensive rebounds. BHSU, who was ranked top ten in the country in turnovers per game, were forced into eight in the third quarter and nine in the first half. The Yellow Jackets were led by a trio who scored 16 or more points each in
Bradie Schlabs,
Haylee Weathersby, and
Kalla Bertram.
QUICK DETAILS
Score: New Mexico Highlands 77, Black Hills State 63
Team Records: Black Hills State 10-4 (6-1 RMAC), New Mexico Highlands 6-7 (3-4 RMAC)
Attendance: 149
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Black Hills State allowed a mid-range jumper by Kapiolani Anitielu to start the scoring in the match up, but
Morgan Hammerbeck answered back with an assist to Weathersby and a three-pointer of her own. Aspen Salazar, who had a season high of 15 points caught fire in the first quarter dropping 11, including back-to-back field goals to take the lead back for New Mexico Highlands. After another basket swap, Hammerbeck made her second three of the quarter at the 5:30 mark, and Bertram made a layup at the 4:36 mark to take the lead back, which held the rest of the quarter. Schlabs was getting sent to the foul line multiple times late in the first quarter, where she made three of three from the line thanks to a lane violation, Weathersby also made a free throw during that stretch. Top NMHU scorer Juliana Aragon made a couple of free throws to bring the score to 16-15 with 1:00 to go in the first quarter, but Bertram made a layup to bring the lead back to three. Salazar got her 11th point with 25 seconds to go in the first to put the score at 18-17, and Bertram immediately answered again with another layup to send the lead to three at 20-17 with nine seconds to go.
• Black Hills State continued their second quarter dominance outscoring the Cowgirls 10-4. Weathersby started the scoring right away with a layup to go up five. After that, two minutes went by without a point until
Bradie Schlabs hit a layup with 7:51 in the half. Aragon answered back with a layup, but then only four points was scored over the next 2:48, all free throws by Weathersby. After 2:48 with no field goals, Anitielu made a layup to with 4:26 to cut the lead to 28-21. However, no points were scored again until Schlabs made a layup with 1:01 remaining in the half to bring the score to 30-21 where it stayed until the break. Only five field goals were scored in the second quarter.
• The Halftime leaders for the Yellow Jackets were Weathersby with 11 points. Schlabs with six rebounds, Schlabs with three assists, and Weathersby and Schlabs with a steal each. The leaders for the Cowgirls were Salazar with 11 points, Salazar, Aragon, Adrianna Torrez, and Essynce Contreaz with two rebounds apiece, Contreaz and Anitielu with an assist a piece, and Anitielu with three steals.
• Black Hills State built their lead to nine for the largest lead of the game after Bertram made back-to-back layups to take a 34-23 lead. From the that point on it was all New Mexico Highlands. The Cowgirls went on a 26-7 run in the third quarter thanks to a full court press that had Black Hills State struggling to get the ball past mid court. BHSU had eight turnovers in the third quarter. The two teams went back and forth with buckets throughout the middle of the quarter, but between the three minute and two-minute mark, Black Hills had four turnovers that led to NMHU taking the lead 42-40 with 2:43 to go and building that lead to 49-40 with 2:19 left in the quarter to cap off a 13-0 run. Black Hills State was able to cut the lead to four by the end of the third thanks to five points from Schlabs, who got herself to double-digits 57-41.
• Hammerbeck started the fourth quarter with a layup to put the lead to two, but the Yellow Jackets struggled to stop Anitielu. Anitielu hit a layup and three pointers to answer back to give the Cowgirls a five-point lead with 8:26 remaining in the game. BHSU allowed four offensive boards in the fourth quarter, three of which led to put back layups by Aniya Johnson. A Schlabs layup allowed BH to cut the lead to three 64-61, but NMHU went on a 6-0 run to go up 70-61. Then the fouling began and BH could not close the lead, losing their first conference game this year
BLACK HILLS STATE STATISTICAL LEADERS
Haylee Weathersby: 19 points, 6 of 10 from the field, 7 rebounds, 1 steal
Bradie Schlabs: 16 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals
Kalla Bertram: 16 points, 8 of 12 from the field, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
UP NEXT
The Yellow Jackets continue their southwestern road trip as they head to Durango, Colorado to face Fort Lewis on Saturday, January 18, in the Whalen Gymnasium.
