Nov. 24, 2006
Box Score
The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team dropped its first game of the CenturyTel Bobcat Classic by a score of 62-59 to host Texas State at the Strahan Coliseum on Friday (Nov. 24).
It was a tightly played game, with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage until a lay-up on the fastbreak by Joyce Ekworomadu of TSU made it 11-6, in favor of the Bobcats.
The Lady Broncs continued to fight, and closed the gap to one point, making the score 18-17 on a Rachel Jones (Little Rock, AR/Little Rock Central H.S.) lay-up on the fastbreak.
The Bobcats put the ball in the hands of their star, Ekworomadu, and went on a 16-7 run to close out the first half of action. Ekworomadu would finish the game with a game-high 29 points on 8-15 from the field and 2-5 from behind the arc while scoring 11 points at the foul line.
The Lady Broncs would finish the first half 42.9 percent shooting from the field to the Bobcat's 40 percent. The difference would come at the foul line UTPA went 6-13 versus Texas State's 12-18.
The Bobcats held off the Lady Broncs until a Jones lay-up with 7:34 remaining to play knotted the game up at 48.
The Lady Broncs refused to let-up, reducing the lead to one-point on a Hadley Freeman (Shawnee, OK/Shawnee H.S.) three-pointer with 10 seconds left to play, making the score 60-59. That would be the only basket for Freeman on the night as she went 1-1 from three-point range, but it was a crucial bucket with time winding down.
UTPA would call a 30-second time-out with four seconds left in regulation, and on the inbound pass to the Bobcats' Ashley Leffingwell, MaHogany Daniel would committ her fifth and final foul to take their chances with the opponents on the foul line. Leffingwell knocked down both free throws, and on the change of possession, Jones would shoot a desparation trey to no avail.
Texas State failed to let UTPA take-over the game, as they held off the Lady Broncs and never relinquished the lead once during the contest.
The loss drops the Lady Broncs to 3-2 on the season, as they finished the game shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 40 percent from behind the arc. The Bobcats shot a dismal 26.1 from the field in the second half, but once again, the difference would come at the foul line as they made 26 trips to the charity stripe, knocking down 15 shots.
Leading scorer for the Lady Broncs was LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) as she finished the night with 15 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Gray shot 4-8 from the field 1-3 from behind the arc and 6-10 from the free throw line. Gray got little help from her teammates, as the next highest scorer was Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) with seven points on 3-3 shooting. Garrett is 15-16 on the season through five games.
The Lady Broncs will take to the court again on Saturday (Nov. 25) when they face Louisiana-Monroe in their second game of the CenturyTel Bobcat Classic with tip-off set for 4:00 p.m. at the Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos, TX.
UTPA Sports Information
