The Lady Broncs were led by senior post player Molly Schamel (Hector, NY/Yavapai College) who got things going early with a jumper to put her team on the board and tie the game at 2-2 at the 19:17 mark in the first half. After TAMIU hit back to back three-pointers to take the lead 8-2, Schamel would get the momentum back for the Lady Broncs with a lay-up inside to take it to cut the lead to four points at 8-4 with 18:07 to go in the half.
In the first seven minutes of play, the two teams traded buckets before UTPA went on a 19-point run, eight coming from the strong inside play of junior Stacey Gooden (Houston, TX/ J.F. Dobie H.S.) to take the lead, 29-10, with 8:48 remaining in first half action.
"I though Stacey was very active for us tonight. She got her hands on a lot of good passes and if she didn't convert, she was drawing the foul. She was doing a great job for us and the interior play we saw from our post players tonight was outstanding," stated head coach DeAnn Craft.
"Defense is our primary focus, and when we are doing what we need to on that end the offense comes with ease. That is what happened for us tonight. Our defensive energy carried us, and we started to make good passes offensively and get the ball inside," added Gooden, who paid the success on offense to the effort the team was giving on defense.
At the 6:09 mark, the Lady Broncs would then push the lead to 20 after a three-pointer from point guard Kathy Guin (Guthrie, OK/Guthrie H.S.). Another jumper from Schamel, sharp shooting behind the arc from Dominique Montague (Gilbert, AZ/Central Arizona College), and a jumper at the buzzer from Ashley Roberts (Hernando, MS/Butler County C.C) would give UTPA a 28-point lead going into the locker room.
The inside presence of Schamel continued in the second half of play when she scored off a Cinthia Ramirez (Guadalajara, Mexico/ Nolan Catholic H.S.) pass, cutting to the basket for an easy lay-up to take the score to 49-20. After a TAMIU turnover, Montague would follow with another three at the 18:47 mark to take the lead to 30.
"We shared the ball really well tonight. I thought our guards were really confident about getting the ball to us down low, and our chemistry was just there tonight. If we didn't have the inside look, the guards were getting open on the perimeter. I thought our team as a whole played really unselfishly. We played well at every position on the floor," said Schamel.
The Dustdevil defense was able to hold UTPA scoreless for two three-minute periods in the second half of play, but they were unable to put a dent in the Lady Broncs lead. With five minutes to play, the fast break-style the Lady Broncs program is a custom to was able to force four Dustdevil turnovers into point conversions on the other end. Tiona Wilson (Bradenton, FL/Southeast H.S.) finished on two fast break opportunities to take the score to 76-44 with 2:04 remaining in the game. She would then score one more to give her team the 85-49 - 36-point victory.
"We really were able to play our game tonight. Our press did so much damage in the first half, and we were able to build a large lead going into the half. In the second half, I felt we needed to work on our half court offense, however, it sometimes hurts our tempo and so even though we had the lead we needed to get back to what we do best which is running the ball and pressing on defense," commented Craft.
Schamel finished the game leading all scorers with 17 points on an 8-10 shooting performance from the floor. She was also 1-1 from the line and added three rebounds in the victory. Roberts added 10 more for the Lady Broncs while being one of three players to dish out four assists. MaHogany Daniel (Corpus Christi, TX/Mary Carroll H.S.) recorded a game-high 10 rebounds and three blocked shots.
"One of the keys in this game for us tonight was getting the ball to Molly. Our guards were feeding the ball inside really well she didn't have to hunt for good passes she was just able to do what she does best for us inside. I think this was one of the best performances for Molly in her time here at UTPA," said Craft
UTPA finished the game shooting 43.2 percent from the field and were sharp at the line shooting 83.3 percent. The Lady Broncs also won the rebounding battle by a 50-30 margin, and forced 36 turnovers on the night from the Dustdevils.
For the TAMIU, Vanessa Villarreal led her team with 13 points and seven rebounds.
The Lady Broncs will now hit the road for a two-game trip to Oklahoma where they will face Oral Roberts on Nov. 26th and Tulsa on the 28th.
UTPA Sports Information