ESPANOLA, NM - Northern women’s basketball traveled to Salt Lake City, UT this past weekend to compete in Westminster College’s Classic. The Lady Eagles faced off against two NAIA Division I opponents and battled hard in two hard fought contests.

Friday afternoon, the Lady Eagles saw themselves going against Rocky Mountain College, who received honorable mention votes in the NAIA pre season top 25 national rankings. Northern dug themselves into an early hole and never could seem to get themselves out, losing 87-37. Having one of those nights, the Lady Eagles shot a poor 21.5% from the field for the game and a mere 6.3% from behind the arc. They were dominated on the boards, as well, from a much larger Rocky Mountain squad, being out rebounded 52-34. Nisa Duran led the Lady Eagles in scoring with 16 points. She finished the game with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Point guard Shaniqua Perkins led the team on the boards with 9.

Saturday evening’s contest versus Westminster College proved to be a much better showing for Northern, who was now going up against a Westminster team that was ranked 9th, nationally, in the pre season poll for NAIA Division I teams. The Lady Eagles shot a little better in the first half, shooting 33% from the field and 41% from the arc, however, went into halftime with a 45-27 deficit. Determined to continue to battle hard, Northern came out in the second half shooting a much better 48% from the field and closed the deficit to 8 points, however, couldn’t get it any closer than that and ended up with their second loss of the season, 78-59. Northern finished the game with a 41.1% field goal percentage and shot great from the free throw line with 87.5%, however, they were only granted 8 total free throw attempts compared to Westminster’s 26. Leading the way, again, for the Lady Eagles, was Nisa Duran, who finished with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Shaniqua Perkins followed with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. Sophomores Shannon Dez and Mel Vigil each had 10 points. Dez finished with 4 rebounds, while Vigil had 5.

Eagles women’s basketball will be on the road twice this week. Wednesday, November 9th, they will be down in Hobbs, NM at University of the Southwest for a 5:30PM contest. Saturday, November 12th, they will be traveling to Las Vegas, NM to face off against New Mexico Highlands University at 7PM.