Dec. 20, 2006
Box Score
The Lady Broncs came up short in a rematch against the University of Louisiana-Lafayette when they were defeated by a score of 59-53 in Lafayette, LA, on Wednesday (Dec. 20).
UTPA clawed its way through the opening minutes of the first half, refusing to let the game get away from them. The Ragin Cajuns were unable to shake the Lady Broncs off their tail, until an Onna Charles three-pointer sparked a 13-6 run to make the score 26-15, giving ULL their largest lead of the half.
The Lady Broncs capitalized off ULL turnovers in the final six minutes of the opening half, and a successful LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) shrunk the once-double-digit lead to one with 1:08 remaining in the first half, making the score 28-27.
The teams would head to the locker room with the score 31-27, in favor of the Ragin' Cajuns. Both UTPA and ULL shot 42.9 percent from the field, but the Ragin' Cajuns took three more shots than the Lady Broncs. The difference came at the free throw line where UTPA shot 88.9 percent on 8-of-9 shooting while their opponents shot just 12.5 percent on 1-8 from the line.
Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) provided a spark off the bench, scoring seven points on 2-of-2 from the field and 3-of-3 from the foul line, in six minutes of action while senior MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) grabbed three rebounds in the first half.
The Lady Broncs came out of the gate firing, knotting the contest at 34 when Gray converted a steal into a fastbreak basket in the paint at the 15:01 mark. UTPA soon took its first lead of the game when Daniel converted two free throws to make the score 40-39.
The Ragin' Cajuns experience showed just as it did in the first meeting between these two teams when they built a comfortable lead as time ran out on the Lady Broncs. The action-packed second half featured three ties and two lead changes as the Ragin' Cajuns were able to buckle down in the waining minutes, going on a 19-14 run to defeat the Lady Broncs.
For the game, UTPA shot 51.4 ULL's 39.6 percent from the field while the Ragin' Cajuns completely dominated the boards, 36-17. No Lady Broncs recorded double-digit scores on the night, but the distribution of the ball kept UTPA in the game.
The Lady Broncs' high-scorer on the night was Gray who scored 9 points on 4-10 shooting from the field, including a solid 4-4 from the charity stripe while adding three steals to her team-leading 26 picks.
Two Ragin' Cajun's scored 14 on the night in Yolanda Jones and Onna Charles. Jones attempted a game-high 17 shots, but only connected on five baskets. Charles, who also had 14 points on the night, reached the total in a full 40 minutes of action by going 4-11 from the field, including 4-6 from behind the arc.
The loss drops the Lady Broncs to 4-9 on the season while the Ragin' Cajuns improved to 9-4.
The Lady Broncs return to the hardwood again when they stay at home to host the Battle at the Border Basketball Tournament that features teams from Texas State, TexasA&M-Corpus Christi and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. The tournament will kick-off on Thursday (Dec. 28) when the Lady Broncs face Texas State at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
