Hobbs, NM – The Monroe University women's basketball team dropped its first contest of the season on Sunday, falling in an overtime battle against No. 9 New Mexico Junior College, 75-69.
A three-pointer by sophomore
Fabiana Poindujour put the Mustangs up by four with a 1:41 remaining in regulation. But with 40 seconds to go, NMJC nailed two clutch free throws to send the contest to another period.
NMJC began the overtime period on a 5-0 run. Sophomore
Hellary De Los Santos cut it to three with less than two minutes to go, but that was all Monroe would get over the final five minutes as the Thunderbirds narrowly escaped the upset bid by head coach Mike Seney's squad.
Poindujour was once again phenomenal in the losing effort. Her 21 points was a game-high, pushing her weekend average to a team-high 18. Freshman
Sheridan Oberhand rebounded nicely in her second career start, pouring in an additional 13 points across 35 minutes.
Sophomores
Hellary De Los Santos and
Sydney Huskey joined the prior two in double-figures, with De Los Santos dominating the boards with an astounding 20 rebounds. Sophomore
Eniyah Stinnette also achieved double-digit rebounds, with eight of her ten coming on the offensive end.
It was a slow start for the Mustangs as they fell behind 20-7 after the first quarter and 41-26 by the half. But the tides began to shift in the second half as Oberhand led the charge with nine points. Her two threes during Monroe's 11-0 run to start the half made it a four-point game less than three minutes into the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Huskey with 3:33 to go in the quarter gave Monroe its first lead since the opening basket of the game. While NMJC took an early nine-point lead, the Mustangs used a 9-0 run to tie the game at 56 near the midway point of the game.
From there, the two sides battled it out, with the Mustangs coming up short.
Monroe sits at 1-1 on the year with two solid performances out in the Land of Enchantment.
It will face another ranked test on Monday to close out the New Mexico Classic in No. 7 South Plains College — the team that knocked Monroe out of the 2025 NJCAA Division I national tournament. Tip-off is set for noon ET (10:00 am MT).
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE UNIVERSITY
The athletic program at Monroe University encompasses a total of 26 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as the Monroe University marching band, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has seven teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeUMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@MonroeMustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
