Cochise Women's Basketball splits two-game road trip at New Mexico Junior College

HOBBS, New Mexico -- The Cochise College Women's Basketball team traveled to Hobbs, NM this weekend as part of a small invitational hosted by New Mexico Junior College. The Apaches faced Odessa Community College on Friday, November 10th, and NMJC on Saturday, November 11th. Both games were held at the Caster Activity Center on the New Mexico Junior College campus. 

Friday, November 10th: Cochise-61, Odessa-56

On Friday evening, the Apaches faced Odessa Community College in what was a tight affair for the majority of the game. The Wranglers came in as a nationally-ranked team in the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball preseason poll. Cochise held an early lead over OCC and went into halftime up 31-24. Odessa took a late lead over Cochise with over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, however, Clara Gonzalez came up clutch sinking a three-pointer, followed by an unassisted layup to give the Apaches a five-point lead. Cochise pulled away for good with late free throws from Sophomore Ali Hardwell, giving the Apaches a big win on the road. Gonzalez was the leading scorer for Cochise going 9 for 15 from the field scoring 23 points. Hardwell and sophomore Ameena Muhammad each tallied 10 points, and Fortuna Ngnawo scored eight points and collected 12 rebounds.

Saturday, November 11th: Cochise 57, New Mexico Junior College-69

The Apaches were tasked with going up against a highly-rated and highly-ranked preseason No.5 New Mexico Junior College on Saturday afternoon. A back-and-forth affair early in the game had Cochise taking a 17-13 lead heading into the second quarter. However, the Thunderbirds steamrolled the Apaches in the second quarter sinking 3 of 3 from three-point land and taking the lead at halftime. Cochise managed to keep things close with NMJC, however, it was the Thunderbirds who came out on top, surviving a potential upset at home. Ngnawo led the Apaches with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Gonzalez followed scoring 10 points with two steals and two assists. Freshman Micayla Silas came off of the bench scoring 8 points and collecting two rebounds. 

After the weekend road trip, Head Coach Misty Opat was pleased with the effort from Cochise. "I am proud of [our] effort tonight," Opat stated. "Our girls played incredibly hard down the stretch, we just did not make enough shots in the fourth quarter. New Mexico is an incredibly talented team, so I am proud of the way we competed against them, and it shows me that this team is capable of special things if we continue to play this way."

Up Next..

Cochise Women's Basketball (2-2) will be back on the road next week, as they head to Chandler-Gilbert Community College (3-1) in a conference matchup on Tuesday, November 21st at 5:30 pm.