Nov. 12, 2005
Box Score
The University of Texas - Pan American women's basketball team played their final tune-up game before the regular season starts on Friday (Nov. 18) against the Texas A&M - Kingsville Javelinas, pulling out a 61-53 victory at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
The Javelinas jumped ahead early in the game and held the lead until the 7:40 mark when Dottie Knerr (Winter Park, FL/Winter Park H.S.) put in a lay-up to give the Lady Broncs a 17-16 lead. Knerr finished the game with eight points on 4-9 shooting.
In the second half, the lead changed hands six times with UTPA taking the lead with just 2:15 left in the game, when Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) sank a lay-up to give the Lady Broncs a 52-51 advantage.
"We had to make a lot of adjustments in this game because we had some serious foul trouble. You never want to be in foul trouble, but learning to play while making the adjustments is healthy," said head coach DeAnn Craft.
Fouls plagued the Lady Broncs and forced Craft to mix-and-match her lineup, using many different combinations of players throughout the game. Knerr fouled out while the team's two freshmen centers both sat significant minutes due to fouls.
One player who saw quite a few minutes as a result of the fouls was senior Stacey Gooden (Houston, TX/J. Frank Dobie), who stepped in, scored nine points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.
"Stacey came in and did what we expect out of a senior who has been here for four years. It was kind of a mixed blessing because you don't want to have players in foul trouble, but it's nice to have a player like Stacey who can come in and give you quality minutes," added Craft.
Dominique Montague (Gilbert, AZ/Central Arizona College) led the Lady Broncs with 13 points on 5-8 shooting, including 2-4 from behind the three-point arc. On top of the points, Montague grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.
"Dominique helped to steady the team with her shooting. She hit some really big shots for us, which helped us take this game by eight points," said Craft.
UTPA connected on 26-52 shots from the floor for a 50% field goal percentage. The Javelinas, meanwhile, shot just 31.3% from the floor, including 25% on three-point shots. The Lady Broncs used a mix of defenses to keep Texas A&M - Kingsville off balance, forcing 18 turnovers on the night.
"We had a great mix of excellent shooting while throwing a variety of defenses at them, which really worked out well," added Craft.
The Lady Broncs kick off the regular season on Friday (Nov. 18) as they travel to Auburn, AL, to take on the Auburn Tigers with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
UTPA Sports Information
