Dec. 20, 2005

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The UTPA women's basketball team (2-9) snapped a five-game losing streak on Tuesday (Dec. 20) with a 92-49 win over Schreiner University (1-8) at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

The Lady Broncs led by as many as 16 in the first half when Tynesha Pierce (Houston, TX/Westfield H.S.) made a lay-up with 1:29 left to play. UTPA headed in to the intermission with a 39-25 advantage over the Mountaineers. In the second half, Dominique Montague (Gilbert, AZ/Central Arizona College) gave the Lady Broncs a 20-point lead with 13:29 remaining in the game. UTPA took off from there, outscoring Schreiner 28-11 over the final 10 minutes.

Pierce turned in her best performance of the season and possibly her career so far at UTPA. The sophomore scored a career-high 24 points on 11-19 shooting while also pulling down a career-high 12 rebounds. Pierce dominated the second half of the game, accounting for 17 points and 11 rebounds, plus three steals and one block.

"This was the first game where Ty's play resembled her play from last season. We've been in a situation where we needed to be patient with her and she needed to be patient with herself because she hasn't been able to play at a level she expects to play at coming off an injury. She was a dominating presence in the second half, especially on the boards, which is what the team needs right now," stated head coach DeAnn Craft.

In addition to Pierce, four other Lady Broncs turned in double-digit scoring efforts, including freshman Teshay Winfrey (Houston, TX/Eisenhower H.S.) who tied a career-high with 18 points. Fellow newcomer Rachel Jones (Little Rock, AR/Little Rock Central H.S.) also recorded new career-highs with 13 points, four steals and four field goals made.

"It's great to have five players score in double-digits. We had so many touches by the right players and were able to get our scorers plenty of opportunities," added Craft.

Montague pitched in 16 points on 5-17 shooting, including 4-14 from behind the three-point arc. The Lady Bronc senior also had three assists, two blocks and two steals. Senior Devin Reed (Indianapolis, IN/Cowley County Community College) added 14 points to go along with nine rebounds, which tied a career-high. Reed shot 50% (5-10) from the field and connected on 3-7 from behind the three-point line.

"Devin had another great floor game for us tonight and was really a catalyst for our offense. Rachel also provided a spark on the floor while she was in the game and she just needs to continue to work on shot selection," said Craft.

The Lady Broncs set new program records in multiple categories in the victory. The team's 84 field-goal attempts breaks the previous record of 82, set against Air Force in 1997. UTPA also tied the record for three-point field goals made, with 10, while breaking the previous record for three-point field goal attempts (36), which was previously 33.

The Lady Broncs are back in action on Thursday (Dec. 22) with the Texas A&M International Dustdevils coming to town for a 7:00 p.m. game at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

UTPA Sports Information