Jan. 11, 2009

The Lady Broncs stepped it up this past week practicing three times a day. In tonight's match up against Utah Valley University, the hard work paid off as they defeated the Lady Wolverines in a nail-biting 57-56 decision.

"This is a huge win for our program," said sixth-year head coach DeAnn Craft. "We kept it to a low possession game. This is a battle between two different styles of play."

The Lady Wolverines came into tonight's game averaging 74 points a game with their star shooter Robyn Fairbanks who averages 25 points a game, but early foul trouble kept her from making her mark in the half.

In the first half, the Lady Broncs took control of the game leading by as many as 18 as the half ended.

"I thought we did a great job of building our lead when they were in foul trouble in the first half," Craft said.

Epiphany Smith scored 14 points to go along with six assists while Aleeya Grigsby scored 13 points and one steal.

"I'm just so proud of Aleeya Grigsby and Piph (Epiphany Smith) just continues to be such a court general for us, and it was nice to see Robin Garrett get back in the flow," Craft said.

Fairbanks would eventually take off in the second half scoring 19 of her 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and one steal.

But in the end it was the Lady Broncs who wanted it more as Grigsby hit a jumper to put them up by two with 22 seconds left in the match.

The Lady Broncs are back in action on Jan. 14 against Texas A&M-International at the UTPA Fieldhouse with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.

"The team we're getting ready to play plays a full court coverage and that's an area we struggle with," said Craft. "We just got to get in the gym and practice."

UTPA Sports Information