PORTALES, New Mexico – The Angelo State women's basketball team received 41 points from its bench to defeat Eastern New Mexico 79-61 in Portales, New Mexico, on Saturday afternoon.

The Belles improve to 10-4 and 3-1 in the Lone Star Conference with their third straight victory. ASU shot 47.5-percent for the game including an efficient 55.2-percent in the second half. ENMU (6-9, 1-4 LSC) was held to 33.9 percent shooting and committed 19 turnovers. Angelo State scored 27 points off the 19 ENMU turnovers.

"I thought our bench was just magnificent. The 41 points from the bench was the different maker today. Our starters got in foul trouble early and didn't get to play a whole lot. It in the second and third quarter the bench led us. I thought Diamalises Rivera played a great offensive game. Kiahna (Thompson) and Lexi (Murphy) hit some big shots down the stretch. Tonight our bench lifted us and made our starters play better."

Diamalises Rivera led the charge for the ASU bench with a game high 19 points. Seven of her 19 points came at the free throw line. Taylor Dorsey added 15 points and five rebounds while Brea Mitchell contributed 13 points. Mitchell has now scored in double figures in three straight games. Kiahna Thompson scored nine points off the bench and Lexi Murphy drained two 3-pointers for six points.

A 33-32 half time lead quickly was lost as ENMU drained a three pointer to open the second half. ASU would go scoreless over the first four minutes of the third quarter.  A 6-0 ENMU run was stopped by a jumper in the paint by Rivera. Mitchell stole the ball from ENMU and Rivera converted to trim ENMU's lead to one at 39-38. Rivera gave ASU a one point lead on the next possession with a bucket on a pass from Murphy.

Mitchell hit a jumper to extend the lead and would score ASU's next seven points. She hit back-to-back jumpers and hit a 3-pointer to increase ASU's lead to 46-41 with 1:54 to go in the third quarter. The 3-pointer trigged three straight possessions that ASU would make a 3-pointer. The 11-2 run over the final 1:54 would give ASU a 54-43 advantage into the fourth quarter. Thompson and Murphy were credited with the other two 3-pointers.  

The Belles kept the pressure on defense and it paid off in the fourth. ASU used a 17-4 run over the first 7:30 of the first half to put the game away. Mitchell and Prophet would use precise passing in the lane as combined for nine points during the run in the fourth quarter.

ASU started the game by hitting 60-percent in the first quarter and scoring 23 points. ENMU hit 63.3-percent from the field but committed eight turnovers. Seven different players scored in the first quarter. The second quarter was low scoring as ENMU outscored the Belles 14-10 to pull within one at half.