Nov. 14, 2006
Box Score
The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team defeated border rival Texas A&M-International in its first home game at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Tuesday (Nov. 14) by a score of 65-58.
The Lady Broncs jumped out to a quick lead with their up-tempo play on a MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) jumper in the paint making it 7-1 at the 17:12 mark in the first half. Daniel scored six points on 3-3 from the field while collecting seven rebounds in the opening half of the contest.
The Lady Broncs continued their scoring surge in the first half as their bench contributed 18 points. The game remained manageable due to costly penalties by UTPA as they committed 13 fouls versus the Dustdevils five in the opening stanza.
"This is the second game in a row where we've had a substantial lead, and we just wasted away some possessions tonight. We can't afford to do that with the schedule we have," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
The Lady Broncs would head to the locker room with a 12-point lead on 51.6 percent shooting to the Dustdevils 42.1 percent.
UTPA denied any attempts by Texas A&M-International to close the lead by matching them shot for shot five minutes into the second half. The Lady Broncs would capitalize on their size advantage in the paint as Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) increased the lead to 18 on a jumper inside with 10:37 remaining to play making the score 58-40.
Garrett would finish the night with seven points going a solid 3-3 from the field and 1-2 from the free throw line in 12 minutes of play.
The Lady Broncs would take their largest lead of the game with 7:05 left to play as freshman Aleeya Grigsby (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) connected on two free throws adding to her eight points on the night. Grigsby score eight points as she went 2-4 from the field and 4-6 from the charity stripe in her second game as a Lady Bronc.
Tamara Vaughn (Houston, TX/Blinn College) was the high scorer on the squad for her second game in a row as she put up 13 points on 5-10 shooting and 2-2 from the foul line, including one bucket from behind the arc.
Senior MaHogany Daniel () contributed defensively with nine rebounds as the Lady Broncs only allowed six second chance points on the night.
"I felt that we gave effort tonight, but I don't collectively think we played a smart basketball game. This team wanted a very slow pace, and when we play up-tempo we are very comfortable. When we are forced to play half court defense we struggle," said Craft.
UTPA would finish the night shooting above 50 percent from the field for the second game in a row with 57.1 percent while holding the Dustdevils to 33.3 percent.
"This is the second game we've shot over 50 percent and you have to be happy about those things, but the turnovers and our lack of defensive focus tonight concerns us a little bit," added Craft.
The Lady Broncs return to action on Saturday (Nov.18) against the University of Louisiana at Lafayette at the UTPA Fieldhouse with the game starting at 2:00 p.m. The game will be the first of a men's and women's doubleheader.
UTPA Sports Information
