Dec. 10, 2006
Box Score
On a day normally reserved for football, the Lady Broncs put up football-like numbers in their 49-33 loss to Texas State University at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Sunday (Dec. 10).
In their lowest point total of the season, the Lady Broncs hit the first jumper of the game, courtesy of Aleeya Grigsby (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) at the 19:11 mark in the first half. Grigsby's basket would be the only points scored by UTPA until a LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) basket made the score 4-2 with 14:21 remaining in the first half.
With just under five minutes to play, the Bobcats started to pull away when a converted free throw by Victoria Davis made the score 15-8. The seven point difference matched Texas State's largest lead of the half.
Despite shooting just 22.2 percent (4-18) from the field, the Lady Broncs' defense kept them in the game by limiting the Bobcats to 28 percent on 7-25 shooting and grabbing 21 rebounds to Texas State's 15. UTPA headed into the intermission down by five, with the score 19-14.
"We had a collapse of focus on both ends of the floor. I absolutely thought our zone in the first half gave us many opportunities to really make a decisive statement, and offensively what we did with those opportunities was we just threw the ball away and made some very poor decisions," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
It seemed as if the Lady Broncs made the right adjustments coming out of the break when they reduced the Bobcat's lead to just two points, aided by a pair of Teshay Winfrey (Houston, TX/Eishenhower H.S.) steals converted into buckets, but the Bobcats refused to roll over.
Texas State withstood the Lady Bronc's opening blows and came out of their corner after a media timeout and went on a 13-5 run, sparked by a four point play when Ashley Leffingwell was fouled on a successful three point shot and converted from the charity stripe.
The Bobcats took their largest lead of the game at 18 points when Leffingwell converted another four point play, reminiscent of the one that got the Lady Broncs into trouble earlier in the second half. Leffingwell's multiple score made the point total 46-28 with 4:31 left to play.
Leffingwell led all scorers with a game-high 17 points on 5-16 shooting, including 3-8 from behind the arc and 4-4 from the foul line while chipping in four steals, in 27 minutes of action.
The margin would be too much for the Lady Broncs to overcome as time ran out. UTPA improved their shooting to 42.1 percent, but only attempted 19 shots in the second half. The Lady Broncs finished the game shooting 32 percent to the Bobcats 35 percent on the evening. The battle on the boards was an even 32-32, but the difference came in the form of Lady Bronc miscues. UTPA had 32 turnovers to Texas State's 24.
"We turned the ball over entirely too much. They are an experienced and well-coached team, and you can't give points away and that's what we chose to do on a consistent basis tonight. We gave Texas State multiple point opportunities," said Craft.
Leading the way for the Lady Broncs was Grigsby with 16 points on 6-14 shooting, and knocking down the teams only two three-pointers while adding nine rebounds, in 34 minutes of action.
Gray added six points on 2-6 shooting, including 2-2 from the foul line in 17 minutes of play while adding another steal to her team-leading 25 picks on the season.
"I thought LeKeisha Gray played another outstanding game for us, and Aleeya Grigsby too. Those two kids have been pillars, they've been solid. They laid it out there, and they played good basketball. You're just not going to beat a disciplined team with just two players," added Craft.
The loss drops the Lady Broncs to 3-8 on the season, extending their winless streak to seven. UTPA returns to the court again on Tuesday (Dec. 12) when the face Huston-Tillotson at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
