Jan. 25, 2007
Box Score
It took a game-winning shot by Cinthia Ramirez (Guadalajara, Mexico/Nolan Catholic H.S.) with 2.2 seconds remaining for the University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team to edge North Dakota State University by a score of 59-57 at the UTPA Fieldhouse on Thursday (Jan. 25).
The Lady Broncs improved to 9-12 with the victory while the Bison dropped to 7-9 in defeat.
"I think by far this is the biggest win our program has had. They are the best team, the best system and the best coached team I've seen that walked into this Fieldhouse, and our kids were challenged on every possession offensively and defensively and we remained rock solid. I thought we played our hearts out and it's very fitting on who was able to make the game winning shot for us," said head women's basketball coach DeAnn Craft.
The first half was a chess match of sorts for both teams as the fans of the green and orange were treated to four lead changes and six tie scores in the first half of play.
Neither team was able to gain an advantage over the other, knotting the game on five separate occasions in the first 10:31 of the game until Tamara Vaughn (Houston, TX/Blinn College) hit two consecutive baskets to give the Lady Broncs their largest lead with the score 19-14 at the 8:29 mark in the opening half.
The Bison continued to fight back, tying the game 24-24 on a three-point shot by Ali Sonstelie.
UTPA quickly took the momentum back as senior MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) grabbed the rebound on a missed three-point attempt and took it the length of the court for the fast break lay-up in the paint with 2:14 to play in the first half. Daniel's conversion was followed by a LeKeisha Gray (Muskogee, OK/Butler County C.C.) jumper with 1:20 remaining in the half to put the Lady Broncs ahead 28-24 heading into halftime.
The Lady Broncs shot 50.0 percent on 12-of-24 from the field compared to the Bison's 34.5 percent on 10-of-29 shooting. NDSU took control of the boards, out-rebounding UTPA by a 20-12 margin while their bench contributed seven points compared to the Lady Broncs' bench with two.
Coming out of the intermission, NDSU quickly erased the four-point Lady Bronc lead when Brenda Slyt blocked a shot, followed by two successful free throws and a fast break jumper in the paint to make the score 28-28. Slyt scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including a solid 4-4 from the free throw line while adding four assists in 27 minutes of action.
Reigning Independent Newcomer of the Week Gray was forced to leave the game following a blow to the nose at the 15:07 mark, and the Bison took advantage of Gray's absence and went on a 13-3 run to take a five-point lead with 11:25 remaining in the game.
The tempo immediately changed as soon as Gray took to the court again, and the Lady Broncs slowly fought their way back into the contest by going on a 14-8 run of their own. Gray's jumper with 4:35 left to play reclaimed the lead for UTPA until NDSU's Lisa Bue scored a jumper in the paint with nine second remaining in the contest.
Coming out of a timeout, Ramirez inbounded the ball at the half court line into the hands of Daniel. As time winded down Daniel found Ramirez open on the baseline, and with 2.2 seconds remaining Ramirez drained what would be the eventual game-winning basket from 15 feet away to give the Lady Broncs a 59-57 victory.
"Well we had the full timeout left and there's a lot less pressure when the game's tied because you're shooting for the win. We wanted to have our best passer take the ball out which is Cinthia. We felt if we could get Mo on the release pass we could spread the floor and just let her go, but they rotated over and usually who people forget about is who inbounded the ball and Mo found her. It's just a great senior and a heady player making a basketball play," added Craft.
Gray led all Lady Bronc scorers with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-7 from the charity stripe while adding five rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of action.
"The thing I can tell you about her is when she gets knocked down she gets right back up. She was absolutely the difference. I just don't think they could guard her real well tonight," said Craft.
Vaughn was the other Lady Bronc in double-digits with 16 points, 13 coming in the first half, on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, including 4-8 from behind the arc.
Daniel nearly had her second double-double of the season as she grabbed 10 rebounds and added eight points in a full 40 minutes on the court.
"Mo knew what we needed was somebody to fight on the boards cause that's what we were lacking at halftime. Being the senior that she is took it upon herself to make sure we got it done," said Craft.
As a team, the Lady Broncs shot 46.0 percent on 23-of-50 from the field compared the Bison's 37.9 percent on 22-of-58 shooting. NDSU won the battle on the boards by a 36-31 margin, but lost the turnover battle with 18 miscues to the UTPA's 16.
The Lady Broncs take to the court again when they face South Dakota State on Saturday (Jan. 27) at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip-off set for 2:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
