Box Score

Highlights on KGBT Action 4 Sports

FORT WORTH, Texas – The University of Texas-Pan American Broncs women's basketball picked up their biggest win of the season, 56-54, over the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs, the 142^nd ranked team in the latest RPI, on Thursday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum.
 
The Horned Frogs (7-7) have the highest RPI among the seven opponents the Broncs have defeated this season. The Broncs (7-11) are ranked 241^st in the RPI with the 81^st most difficult schedule out of 342 teams in Division I. The Broncs have the highest RPI in the Great West Conference and the ranking is the Broncs' highest since Denny Downing took over as head coach.
 
Harlingen-native Bianca Torre led the way for the Broncs by hitting five three-pointers as part of an 18-point performance. Erin Lewis joined the starting lineup for the second time this season and dished out a game-high seven assists to go with a game-high and season-high seven rebounds.
 
Franchesca Simon continued to be red-hot from behind the arc, starting off the game by hitting a three-pointer for the seventh time in eight attempts, to give the Broncs a 3-2 lead. Briesha Wynn and Ashley Colbert followed with back-to-back baskets to give the Horned Frogs the lead.
 
The Horned Frogs went up by as many as five points at 10-5 on a lay-up by Whitney Williams just under five minutes into the game, but the Broncs responded with a 10-3 run, capped by an Adanna Opara fast break lay-up to put the Broncs up 15-13 with 8:51 remaining.
 
The Broncs led by as many as nine at 29-20 on Torre's third-consecutive three-pointer with 2:46 to go, but the Horned Frogs scored the final four points of the first half and the first eight points of the second half to take a 32-29 lead on a fast break jumper by Natalie Ventress with 17:35 left in the game.
 
The Broncs took the lead back three minutes later on three-pointer by LaQuita Garner (11 points) that made it 36-34. That was part of a 14-2 run in which Torre scored eight points, most of which came on back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Broncs' lead to 46-36 with 10:32 remaining.
 
Ventress led the Horned Frogs with 15 points while Wynn finished with 14.
 
The Broncs return to action on Thursday, January 19 at 7:00 p.m. when they open Great West Conference play against Chicago State University at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
 
The University of Texas-Pan American Department of Intercollegiate Athletics competes at the NCAA Division I classification. UTPA, formerly known as Pan American College and Pan American University, is a part of the University of Texas System of Schools. The Broncs compete in 14 varsity sports; men's and women's basketball, golf, tennis, track and field, and cross country, along with women's volleyball and men's baseball. In 1963, then known as Pan American College, the Broncs men's basketball program won the NAIA National Championship with a 73-62 victory over Western Carolina. In 2008 UTPA joined the new all-sports division of the Great West Conference.