Jan. 14, 2010

Final Stats

EDINBURG- The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball program opened conference play Thursday evening (Jan. 14) with a victory over New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) by a score of 62-54 at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

The game started with a three-point basket by Bianca Torre with 32 seconds in the game followed by a two-point bucket by NJIT's Ivana Seric making it a one-point game. After a basket by Maria Ben Erlingsdottir at the 18:45 mark, NJIT made a four point run to take the lead at 5-6. Torre added a three-point basket at with 16:32 left in the first half making it an 8-6 game and never trailed again.

In the second half, the Lady Broncs stretched their lead to as many as 13 points on solid defensive play before pulling out the eight-point victory. The Lady Broncs held NJIT to 25.4% (18-71) from the field and 9.5% (2-21) from beyond the three-point line. In contrast, the Lady Broncs shot 52.3% (23-44) from the field and 44.4% (8-18) from beyond the three-point line.

"Our defense was really good, when we hold someone to 25% shooting from the field, we'll win plenty of games," said head women's coach Denny Downing. "We just need to do a better job of taking care of the ball. We had to many unforced turnovers and we need to improve our free throwing shooting. I was really pleased with our overall effort once again," added Downing.

The Lady Broncs had four players in double figures led by the tandem of Aleeya Grigsby and Erlingsdottir with a game high 16 points each. Freshman and Valley native Torre scored 13 points and dished out three assists while Marah Guzman, another Valley native, added 10 points and pulled down five rebounds to round out the high scorers for the Lady Broncs.

Seric led NJIT with 14 points and 11 rebounds while teammate Taiwo Oyelola added 12 points and six points.

The Lady Broncs return to action Saturday (Jan. 16) as they host Chicago State University in the first game a of a women and men's double header. Game time is slated for 2:15 pm at the UTPA Fieldhouse.