Jan. 2, 2004

ARLINGTON, TX-Texas-Arlington caught fire at the end of the first half, opened up a 30-18 halftime lead, and cruised to a victory over The University of Texas-Pan American's women's basketball team at Texas Hall Friday night. The Lady Mavericks outscored Texas-Pan American, 55-28 in the second half to win the game going away.

UTA grabbed a 16-11 lead with 6:06 remaining in the first half, but the Lady Broncs came right back. Senior guard Amanda Carlow (Pine Ridge, SD/Rapid City CHS/Northeast CC) hit a three-pointer and a jump shot to tie the game at 16 with 5:33 left in the first half. But the Lady Mavericks outscored Texas-Pan American, 12-2 during the rest of the first half, and then used a 14-4 run at the start of the second half to open up a 44-22 advantage with 15:37 remaining. The Lady Mavericks made 54.5 per cent of their shots from the field in the second half, opening up an 80-38 advantage with 2:47 to play.

"We played very effective defense for the first 14 minutes, but we couldn't take advantage of our opportunity," said UTPA Head Coach DeAnn Craft. "Kristi Dudley played well in front of her home folks, but otherwise, we couldn't put the ball in the ocean. We did a much better job of getting to the basket, but once we did, we didn't execute. We missed a lot of one and one opportunities, and we committed too many turnovers, and those are things we have to get better at in order to learn how to win."

Dudley led Texas-Pan American with 11 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Stacey Gooden (Houston, TX/J.F. Dobie HS) added six points and five rebounds, while junior guard Jennifer Piwonka (Louise, TX/Louise HS) and senior guard Amanda Carlow (Pine Ridge, SD/Rapid City CHS/Northeast CC) added five points each.

Piwonka had one assist, increasing her career total to 167. That puts her in ninth place on the all-time list at UTPA.

Tojjney Thompson led UTA with 17 points, KaShayla Hawkins added 14, and Krystal Buchanan added 12. Texas-Arlington grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Lady Broncs, 46-29.

Texas-Pan American fell to 6-7 with the defeat, while UTA improved to 6-6. The Lady Broncs will return to action on the second game of their six-game road trip when they visit Sacramento State next Wednesday evening.