SILVER CITY, N.M. – The Cameron University women's basketball team used a balanced team effort and 10 steals to take down Western New Mexico on Thursday, 67-55.

The Aggies, who are now 11-14 overall and 9-8 in Lone Star Conference play, opened up the first quarter on a 6-0 run, but WNMU came back with a run of their own to tie the game at nine points with six minutes to play. CU scored eight straight points to go up 17-9, however the Mustangs slowly made their way back again and by the end of the first quarter they were leading by two points, 21-19.

Cameron opened up the second quarter on a hot start and quickly took back the lead and extended it to 11 points at the 2:21 mark. Western N.M. responded by scoring four straight points to cut the lead to seven as the Black and Gold lead at the half, 37-30. Amaka Nwakamma led the Ags with 8 points at the break, while Jamie Bonnarens and Lejha Smith each had seven points.

In the second half, the Mustangs opened up the third quarter on a 7-2 run in the first three minutes of play. CU quickly put a stop to their comeback attempts as they scored nine straight to take a 13 point lead; they would end up leading 52-43 at the end of the third quarter.

The Aggies maintained their lead throughout the fourth quarter and combined to shoot over 50 percent from the field in the second half to secure the 67-55 win, despite not making a shot from the field in the final three minutes of play.

Bonnarens went on to lead CU with 15 points, while grabbing five rebounds and collecting four assists. Nwakamma and Ava Battese each had 10 points, as Smith had nine points and seven rebounds, and Parfitt McNair had five steals, five assists, and four points.

Western New Mexico, who with the loss falls to 1-24 overall and 1-16 in league games, was led by Ciara Fields with 20 points, as Jade Botelho had 17 points.

Cameron will remain in New Mexico for their next contest as they visit the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds on Saturday, Feb. 17 with tip-off set for 3 p.m. (CT).