Feb. 22, 2008

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Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American Lady Broncs will match-up against Cal State-Bakersfield for the second time this season on Saturday (Feb.23) with game time slated for 9:01 p.m.

▪ - The Lady Broncs are coming off a heartbreaking 60-57 setback against Southland Conference-foe and rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb.18) at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Lady Broncs fell to 10-15 on the season with the setback and will look to finish off the season with a win heading into the National Independent Tournament on March 6-8.

▪ - This will be the second all-time meeting between the Lady Broncs and the Runners. The last time both teams met was on Jan 12 at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Runners' ran away with a 87-63 victory, as four CSUB players finished in double-digit scoring. Kelly Tarver led the way as she collected 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, 3-of-6 from behind the arc, 3-of-3 from the charity stripe to go with three rebounds, six assists, and two steals.

▪ - Krista Arase chipped in with 15 points and dished out a game-high 12 assists in the contest.

▪ - Maria Ben Erlingsdottir recorded 12 points and four rebounds while LeKeisha Gray finished with 11 points and three assists.

▪ - For the game, the Lady Broncs finished shooting 37.3 percent from the field compared to 50 percent for CSUB and recorded only 13 assists to the Runners' 26.

▪ - Faithful of Lady Broncs basketball can tune in at audiosportsonline.net to listen to the game with Broncs play-by-play man Jonah Goldberg. Pre-game coverage begins at 8:46 p.m.

Leader of the Lady Broncs
▪ - DeAnn Craft is in her fifth season at the helm of the UTPA women's basketball program with a 53-80 record.

▪ - In her first season as head coach, Craft led the Lady Broncs to their highest win total in program history, with 13. That historic season was followed by a 14-win campaign in 2004-05, breaking the win-record set in 2003-04.

▪ - The Lady Broncs made tremendous strides during the 2006-07 season despite finishing with an 11-18 overall record as UTPA had seven players earn post-season United Basketball League and Independent laurels.

▪ - Craft helped guide the Lady Broncs to some tremendous victories during the past season as the Valley's women's basketball program defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Centenary, McNeese State and New Jersey Insitute of Technology.

▪ - The Lady Broncs finished with a 7-5 record on their home court and have finished with a .500 or higher home winning percentage in each of Craft's first four seasons with the program.

▪ - In the last four seasons, Craft has won more games than the previous coaches in the past six seasons.

Gray Selected as Co-Independent Player of the Week
▪ - For the second time this season, LeKeisha Gray was honored as the Co-Independent Player of the Week following the release on Tuesday (Feb.5).

▪ - The UTPA senior guard led the Lady Broncs to their 10th win of the season and second straight win, averaging 25 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

▪ - Gray finished with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting, 6-of-13 from behind the arc, a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to go with four rebounds, two assists and one steal in a 79-74 victory over Longwood on Friday (Feb.1).

▪ - The senior followed her career-high performance collecting a game-high 22 points on 5-of-17 shooting, 12-of-16 from the charity stripe to go with seven rebounds, and six steals in a 62-55 overtime win against Chicago State on Saturday (Feb.2). Seven of Gray's 22 points came in the overtime victory.

Floor General Earns MVP Accolades at Battle at the Border
▪ - LeKeisha Gray earned her second piece of hardware of the season after collecting the MVP trophy at the Third Annual Battle at the Border Tournament hosted by UTPA on Dec. 28-29.

▪ - The Lady Broncs captured the tournament title after battling to a 66-62 victory over St. Louis in the championship game.

▪ - In the two-game series, Gray finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists for the Lady Broncs.

Trio of Lady Broncs Earn All-Tournament Team Honors
▪ - LeKeisha Gray was selected to the five-man all-tournament team at the Flint Hills Islander Classic on (Dec. 16)where she collected 22 points and nine rebounds in her efforts in two-games.

▪ - Rose Esther Jean has finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds at the Flint Hills Islander Classic on (Dec. 16) en route to earning all-tournament team honors in the two-day tournament.

▪ - Sohpomore Aleeya Grigsby collected her first piece of hardware of the season as she was selected to the five-player all-tournament team as she finished with a combined 21 points and 13 rebounds at the Florida Gulf Coast Classic on Dec. 30.

Gray Selected as Co-Independent Player of the Week
▪ - For the second time this season, LeKeisha Gray was honored as the Co-Independent Player of the Week following the release on Tuesday (Feb.5).

▪ - The UTPA senior guard led the Lady Broncs to their 10th win of the season and second straight win, averaging 25 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.

▪ - Gray finished with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-18 shooting, 6-of-13 from behind the arc, a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe to go with four rebounds, two assists and one steal in a 79-74 victory over Longwood on Friday (Feb.1).

▪ - The senior followed her career-high performance collecting a game-high 22 points on 5-of-17 shooting, 12-of-16 from the charity stripe to go with seven rebounds, and six steals in a 62-55 overtime win against Chicago State on Saturday (Feb.2). Seven of Gray's 22 points came in the overtime victory.

▪ - Gray leads the Lady Broncs in scoring and assists with 15.7 points and 3.4 per game.

Scouting the Opponent - Cal State-Bakersfield
▪ - Cal State-Bakersfield is coming off a 73-72 setback over Cal State Northridge on Thursday (Feb.21) at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield.

▪- CSUB fell to 10-14 overall and 6-5 at home. The Runners' have two final games on the 2007-08 campaign including the game with the Lady Broncs.

▪ - The 73-72 victory for Cal State Northridge was the teams first win of the season.

▪ - Three Runners' finished in double-figures including Chris Kepenekian who finished with 21 points and six rebounds while Kelly Tarver added 20 points and four assists in the contest.

▪ - In the second half, CSUB finished shooting just 28.9 percent (11-of-38) from the field compared to 55.9 percent (19-of-34).

▪ - CSUB has four players scoring in double-figures including Tarver who is averaging 17.2 points while Kepenekian is averaging 13 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Last Game - Inside Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
▪ - Mercedes Cooper scored 14 points and her Texas-A&M-Corpus Christi teammates made 14 out of 15 free throws to overcome Texas-Pan American in a basketball struggle to the final buzzer Monday night.

▪ - Elisa Beagle's free throw with l:17 remaining put the Islanders ahead with the winning point and Adrienne Scott clinched it with a jumper with 46 seconds left.

▪ - The Lady Broncs never got off a three-pointer as time ran out. A steal by Deziree Green clinched the thriller before 743 spectators in the last three seconds.

▪ - Robin Garrett led UTPA with a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 8-of-12 from the charity stripe to go with eight rebounds while and Teshay Winfrey added 12 points.

▪ - The Lady Broncs trailed almost the entire second half by a few points after leading 29-28 the first half.

▪ - The Islanders won it at the line with 14 of 15 free throws while the home team sank 10 of 19. The Islanders improved to a 9-15 record while the Lady Broncs fell to 10-15.

▪ - For the game, the Lady Broncs finished shooting 40.7 percent from the floor compared to 47.7 percent for the Islanders.

UTPA Sports Information