Jan. 13, 2007
Box Score
The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball picked up its first victory in the United Basketball League when they defeated the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday (Jan. 13) at the UTPA Fieldhouse by a score of 55-44.
The UTPA victory improves the Lady Broncs to 7-11 on the season and 1-0 in league play while the Highlanders dropped to 3-12 and 0-1 UBL action.
"It means so much to the team and to all the people behind the scenes that fought to hard to get us into a league. It gives us something to fight for and we got off in the right direction to put us in the hunt," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
Both teams got off to a slow start in the opening minutes of the first half as UTPA gave up seven turnovers while NJIT had 10 miscues before the score reached double digits courtesy of an Aleeya Grigsby (Nacogdoches, TX/Nacogdoches H.S.) three-point basket at the 9:55 point mark in the first half to make the score 10-8.
Neither team was able to get anything going as both squads traded baskets as well as turnovers in the final 10 minutes of the first half, heading into the intermission with the score in favor of UTPA 23-21.
The Lady Broncs shot 27.3 percent on 6-of-22 from the field to the Highlanders 38.9 percent 7-of-18 shooting while UTPA committed 15 turnovers to NJIT's 22 in the first half. MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) accounted for six of the Highlander miscues as she recorded six of the Lady Broncs 12 steals in the first 20 minutes of action.
The Lady Broncs settled down defensively in the second half, and went on a 17-11 run capped by a Rose Esther Jean (Missouri City, TX/Hightower H.S.) jumper with 11:31 remaining in the game to make the score 40-32.
"Defensively, it probably ranks in the top two or three games we've played this year. We were almost perfect in our half court press. We not only rotated correctly, but we also didn't allow secondary shots and finished with the rebound," said Vaughn.
UTPA took its largest lead of the game at 14 points on a pair of Cinthia Ramirez (Guadalajara, Mexico/Nolan Catholic H.S.) foul shots with 4:11 remaining in the contest, increasing the score to 51-37.
The Lady Broncs dominated the paint, outscoring their opponents in the paint 18-4 in the second half. UTPA also increased its offensive output, shooting 50.0 percent in the second half on 14-of-28 from the field compared to NJIT's 19.0 percent on 4-of-21 shooting. The majority of the Highlander's second-half points came uncontested as they scored 13 points from the free throw line and just 10 from the field. Defensively, the Lady Broncs forced 40 turnovers to the Highlander's 28 as UTPA stole the ball 21 times.
Jean scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-13 from the field, going 4-of-6 from the charity stripe while picking up four steals and two blocks in 30 minutes on the court.
"Rose is an emerging star. You have to do a double take when you see some of the things she does athletically. She's a freshman that has big-time skills and you see her growing and developing every time down the floor," said Vaughn.
Grigsby was the other Lady Bronc in double figures with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting while grabbing five rebound and two steals on the evening.
Taiwo Oyelola was the only NJIT player in double figures with 10 points on 1-of-4 shooting, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the foul line while grabbing five rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
The Lady Broncs head to Corpus Christi, TX, to face South Texas rival Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi on Monday (Jan. 15) with tip set for 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
