Dec. 28, 2006
Box Score
The third time was a charm for the Lady Broncs as they defeated Texas State by a score of 61-51 on Thursday (Dec. 28) in their opening game of the Battle at the Border Tournament at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
It was the third time the Lady Broncs and Lady Bobcats squared off this season, and the win improved University of Texas-Pan American women to 6-9 on the season while Texas State dropped to 7-5.
The Lady Bobcats were their usual self in the first half after they jumping out to a quick seven-point lead on a Marie Moser-jumper to make the score 11-4 at the 12:40 mark.
Unlike the previous two games, the Lady Broncs' shot was dropping this time, and UTPA was able to take the lead on a pair of Robin Garrett (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) free throws, making the score 23-22 with 4:31 remaining to play in the first half.
Both teams refused to collapse under the pressure, and the score was 29-28 in favor of the Lady Broncs heading into the intermission.
The Lady Broncs shot 44.4 percent on 12-of-27 shooting to the Lady Bobcats' 63.2 percent on 12-of-19 from the field. Texas State won the turnover margin, 12-11, but the difference came in the form of Lady Bobcat miscues. UTPA scored 13 points off turnovers compared to Texas State's nine in the first twenty minutes of play.
Both teams seemed to stumble out of the blocks in the second half as there were six turnovers between the two teams before Tamara Vaughn (Houston, TX/Blinn College) hit the first shot of the second half at the 17:26 mark to make the score 31-28.
The Lady Broncs held the lead for the next 10 minutes of action until a Janesha Washington three-pointer knotted the score at 45-45.
UTPA went on a 10-6 run that was put to a halt by a Washington jumper, closing the Lady Bronc lead to just four points with the score 55-51 at the 4:57 mark in the second half.
Aleeya Grigsby (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) went on to score nine of her game-high 16 points in the final five minutes of play, including seven from the charity stripe as the Lady Bobcats resorted to fouling down the stretch.
Vaughn scored 15 points on 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-3 from behind the arc while grabbing five rebounds, in 32 minutes of play.
Senior MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) was a force defensively, blocking a game-high six shot attempts while adding four points and five rebounds in 39 minutes of action.
"I've said all along that MaHogany's size isn't an issue with her because she's got great timing and great instincts on shot release. I thought she was very disciplined tonight. I thought her poise was the best it's been all season," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
Cinthia Ramirez (Guadalajara, Mexico/Nolan Catholic H.S.) added four assists and two points in 27 minutes of action, but what the box score doesn't show is the stifling defense the UTPA junior played in the final minutes of the game when a hard foul limited the playing time of guard LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) down the stretch.
"I think the emotions of Cinthia Ramirez had people feeding off her. It's the little things she does that maybe in the big picture people don't see. She's getting the ball to people at key times," added Craft.
The Lady Broncs finished the game shooting 47.8 on 22-of-46 shooting compared to Texas State's 42.6 percent on 20-of-47 from the field. UTPA won the battle on the boards, 30-26, while committing only 21 miscues to the Lady Bobcats' 23.
"We made some shots and eliminated the type of turnovers that hurt us. We had some turnovers, but they didn't result in direct baskets for them. I think we got the tempo a little in our favor," said Craft.
The Lady Broncs continue play tomorrow when they face rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the final game of the Battle at the Border Tournament at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.
Univ. of Maryland-Baltimore County 66, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 43
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County evened its overall record to 6-6 on the season as the Retrievers handed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi a 66-43 setback in the first game of the Battle at the Border Tournament on Thursday (Dec. 28).
Sharri Rohde finished with an all-around spectacular game as the UMBC forward recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds to go along with seven assists and two steals in 40 minutes of action.
The Retrievers used a relentless zone defense to shut down the Islanders, who finished the game with a 25.4 shooting percentage (16-of-63) including 19.2 percent (5-of-26) from behind the three-point arc.
In the first half of action, the Islanders shot a dismal 17.9 percent (5-of-28) while UMBC connected on 50.0 percent (12-of-24) of its attempts en route to securing a 27-18 advantage at halftime.
The Retrievers continued to dominate the Islanders in the second half of action as they finished with an identical 50.0 percent (13-of-26) from the field while draining 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal up the victory.
Brittnie Hughes quarterbacked the UMBC offense as the junior point guard finished with 13 points and eight assists while Kristin Drabyn finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Nicole Duncan finished with an Islander-high 11 points while Elisa Beagle collected 10 points and six rebounds.
UTPA Sports Information
