Nov. 18, 2006
Box Score
The Lady Broncs (2-1) suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (3-2) on Saturday (Nov. 18) by a score of 65-52.
In a tightly contested game, the Lady Broncs matched the Ragin' Cajuns shot for shot in the opening minutes before falling behind by nine with 10:59 remaining to play in the first half by a score of 7-16 on a three-point shot by Jeanenne Colbert of Louisiana-Lafayette.
UTPA continued to battle through adversity in the opening stanza until they knotted the game up at 33 on a trey by Aleeya Grigsby (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) with 1:15 remaining.
Grigsby would finish the first half with six points going a perfect 2-2 from the field and 1-1 from three-point range.
The star in the first 20 minutes of action was the Ragin' Cajuns Yolanda Jones who dominated the offensive end, scoring 15 points on 6-10 shooting and 1-3 from behind the arc. Jones added nine rebounds to her first half performance also.
The Lady Broncs refused to back down from arguably the best team they've faced this season as they headed to the locker room with the game tied at 35.
"I thought we showed great resilience in the first half being down nine. I thought we had great fight, and we got back in it. We didn't allow them to take over the game," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
UTPA kept up its tenacity in the second half as they took the lead at the 15:46 mark on a successful three-pointer from Tiona Wilson (Bradenton, FL/Southeast H.S.) to make the score 40-39.
The Lady Broncs would take their largest lead of the game on a jumper by Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) with 12:32 remaining in the game, making the score 46-41.
Garrett finished the game with eight points on 3-4 field goals and 2-2 from the charity stripe before fouling out with just over three minutes to play in the game.
With the game tied at 48 at the 9:27 mark, Colbert of Louisiana-Lafayette took matters into her own hands and dominated the game on the offensive end, scoring 10 of her 19 points in the final minutes of action.
Colbert went 7-10 from the field, including one three-point basket and 4-5 from the foul line while teammate Jones finished the night scoring a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds in 40 minutes of action.
The Ragin' Cajun seniors took over the game, going on a 17-4 run to finish off the Lady Broncs in the closing 10 minutes of the game.
"I don't know if we hit the wall, or just had nothing left in the tank. Their seniors just took over the game at the 10 minute mark in the second half. They know the big moments in the game, and our team just doesn't know that yet," said Craft.
In her second full game back, sophomore Teshay Winfrey (Houston, TX/Eisenhower H.S.) scored a team-high 11 points on 4-9 shooting from the field and 3-7 from behind the arc, in 31 minutes of action while Grigsby was the other Lady Bronc in double-digits scoring with 10 points on 4-9 shooting and 1-2 from three-point land.
The Lady Broncs take to the court again on Tuesday (Nov. 21) when they face Schreiner University at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip-off set at 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
