Feb. 3, 2004

EDINBURG, TX -For nearly 25 minutes, The University of Texas-Pan-American's women's basketball team struggled to put the ball in the basket in their game against Northern Colorado at the UTPA Fieldhouse Tuesday evening. The Lady Broncs rallied to force overtime, but the Bears came from behind in the extra period and outlasted them, 57-56.

Neither team led by more than two points in the overtime period. A three-point play by freshman forward Kristi Dudley (Cedar Hill, TX/Cedar Hill HS) gave the Lady Broncs their final lead of the game, 55-53 with 2:45 remaining in overtime. Nicole Ford's jumper tied the game 30 seconds later, and Amber Elliott drew a foul and converted a pair of free throws for the eventual winning margin with 1:32 to go. Junior center Molly Schamel (Hector, NY/Watkins Glen HS/Yavapai HS) drew a foul and made one of two free throws with 1:13 remaining. UNC ran the clock down in their final possession, but committed a shot clock violation with seven seconds remaining. The Lady Broncs brought the ball down court, and senior guard Amanda Carlow's driving layup missed as the final horn sounded.

"We got the ball in to Amanda, and we tried to set a screen and allow her to drive or kick the ball out to a shooter," said UTPA Head Coach DeAnn Craft. "We ended up with her taking the ball to the hole and having to try a difficult shot."

Texas-Pan American saw their 28-23 halftime lead erased when they were outscored, 18-10, in the first 11 minutes of the second half. The Lady Broncs rallied in the waning moments to tie the game and force overtime. Schamel hit consecutive layups to cut the Bears lead to 47-46 with 2:45 to play. After Elliott hit a pair of free throws to give UNC a 49-47 advantage, Dudley was fouled and made one of two free throws, and junior guard Arrita Oler then connected on a layup with 53 seconds remaining to tie the score and send the game into overtime.

The Lady Broncs came out on fire, using a jumper by junior guard Dawnne Cheadle (Roswell, NM/Roswell HS/Seminole State College) and two three-pointers by Carlow to take an 11-1 lead barely five minutes into the game. They led, 20-11 with 9:59 remaining, but were limited to eight points in the rest of the half as UNC cut the lead to 28-23 at the intermission.

Oler led Texas-Pan American with 15 points, Carlow added 11, and Dudley and senior forward Mary DeCock (Lamberton, MN/Red Rock Central HS/Northeast CC) had 10 apiece. Dudley grabbed eight rebounds, but the Bears won the battle of the boards, 43-42.

Melanie Drangmeister of UNC led all scorers with 14 points; Cindy McCarroll added 12 points and 10 rebounds, Elliott had 11 points and Ford had 10. The Lady Broncs forced 24 turnovers, but made just 25.8 per cent of their shots from the field, 24.1 per cent in the second half.

"It's the same thing that has hurt us before, we couldn't put the ball in the basket," said Craft. "We got a lot of good looks, but we missed layups and short jump shots, and those are the type of shots we have to make, especially on our home court. We have to develop the killer instinct, and there's no reason that we should miss as many shots as we did. Eventually, when your offense doesn't click, it affects your defense, and that's what happened tonight. Our offense needs to help our defense, and that didn't happen tonight."

Texas-Pan American fell to 9-13 with the defeat, and Northern Colorado improved to 13-8. The Lady Broncs will return to action they visit Prairie View A&M next Monday, February 11th.