Dec. 6, 2004
Box Score
The University of Texas - Pan American women's basketball team dropped another game on the road to University of Wyoming on Monday (Dec. 6) to take its record to 3-5 on the season with a 76-51 defeat.
The Lady Broncs started the game with a bucket from senior post Jennifer Arriola (Rio Rico, AZ/Rio Rico H.S.) and then forced a WU turnover. The defensive stop was followed by a Dominique Montague (Gilbert, AZ/Central Arizona Co.) lay-in to take the early 4-0 lead with 18:14 to play in the first half. After back-to-back three pointers from the Cowgirls, the Lady Broncs watched the lead escape and they were down two, 6-4, with 15:38 remaining. WU then continued to build that lead throughout the first half due to the solid play of first team Mountain West Conference player Ashley Elliott.
"We started out playing really well inside. I thought Arriola, Pierce and Daniel were really playing their best game inside. They were all really focused and giving us a good strong effort," said head coach DeAnn Craft.
Montague would try and keep the match-up close hitting from behind the arc at the 9:31 mark to take the score to 16-9. Elliot would answer for the Cowgirls with a three-point conversion after being foul on a mid-range jumper. Montague would spot up and hit another three to take her team to within seven with 8:52 to go, but Elliot's sharp shooting would take the lead back to ten hitting a three to match the effort.
With 7:13 remaining before the end of the half, freshman Tynesha Pierce caught fire hitting a jumper to take the score to 22-14 and then after a solid defensive effort, she would score again to cut the lead to six.
WU would go on a six-point run to go up 28-17. Pierce would break the run and score four consecutive points to take the score to 28-21 with under a minute to play in the half. After a Pierce foul and two made free throws from WU's Kristen Lenhardt, the Lady Broncs headed into the locker room down 30-21.
In the second half, the Lady Broncs were unable to answer the dominating play of Elliott. She finished the game with 31 points, 20 of them coming in the second half.
"We tried several different things to try and defend Ashley, and we just didn't have any answers. We had different girls on her and tried to shut her down offensively then she would drive and dish. She was also a threat defensively getting six steals from us. They were a very good offensive team, and we let them get too many clean shots from the outside. Our guards didn't duplicate that effort on our end," stated Craft.
With 15:05 to go in the game, Pierce would convert on another jumper to take the score to 39-27. Pierce collected a team-high 21 points in the game, finishing 8-11 from the field.
"Ty was excellent inside for us tonight. She made good decisions and was focused on finishing every shot she took. Her play for us tonight was a small victory, but when it all comes down to it we just didn't play with the same intensity they did," Craft commented.
The Lady Broncs were unable to cut into the lead and suffered the 76-51 loss.
"There were some things I thought we did well tonight in the first half. We forced them into some shot clock violations, and our post players were very active and gave us a tremendous effort, but we just didn't make those adjustments and play that way on the perimeter," concluded Craft.
The Lady Broncs will return to the UTPA Fieldhouse to take on Texas State - San Marcos on Saturday (Dec. 11) tipping off at 5:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
