March 5, 2008

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Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American Lady Bronc will host the National Independent Showcase Tournament beginning Thursday (Mar. 6) and will run through Saturday at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Lady Broncs will face-off against number-one seed Utah Valley State on Thursday (Mar. 6) at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Lady Broncs are coming off a 63-56 victory in an exhibition match-up against Houston Baptist on Saturday (Mar. 1) at home.

▪ - This will be the seventh all-time meeting between the Lady Broncs and the Wolverines with Utah Valley State holding a 5-1 advantage. Thursday's match-up will mark the second meeting this season.

▪ - Back on February 9, the Lady Broncs dropped a 70-52 decision in Orem, UT. Tiona Wilson was the only Lady Bronc who finished in double-digit scoring collecting 11 points.

▪ - The nation's number-four sharp shooter, Robyn Fairbanks led Utah Valley with 23 points on 10-14 shooting, 3-of-4 from the free throw line to go with 12 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals.

▪ - For the game, the Lady Broncs finished shooting just 31.7 percent (20-of-63) from the field compared to 50.9 percent (29-of-57) for Utah Valley.

▪ - The game will be broadcast on audiosportsonline.net with Broncs' and Lady Broncs play-by-play announcer Jonah Goldberg. Pre-game coverage begins at 7:00 p.m.

▪ - Game one of the three-day tournament will begin on Thursday (Mar. 6) at 3:30 p.m. at the UTPA Fieldhouse. The championship game will be on Saturday with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.

▪ - Faithful of Lady Broncs basketball can find results for the game shortly after its conclusion by visiting www.utpabroncs.com.

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.

Scouting the Opponent - Utah Valley State
▪ - Utah Valley State enters the National Independent Showcase as the number-one seed.

▪- The Wolverines are coming off a 94-82 victory over Cal State-Bakersfield in the final game of the season on Saturday (Mar. 1).

▪ - Utah Valley State finished the season 16-9 overall and set a new school record for wins, surpassing last year's total of 15 wins.

▪ - Robyn Fairbanks had 23 points and 10 rebounds, her 12th double-double of the season, in just 22 minutes while Julie McMurray and Sandy Marvin both finished with 17. Fairbanks hit 9-for-13 from the floor as Utah Valley shot 56.1 percent from the field.

▪ - The Wolverines used an 11-0 run midway through the first half to take a 22-12 advantage. CSUB got back within four before the Wolverines capped the half on a 14-6 run with Asumi Nakayama nailing a three-pointer with two seconds left in the half, giving UV a 45-30 lead after 20 minutes.

▪ - The Wolverines will look to capture their second victory against the Lady Broncs as they did back on Feb. 9 on their home floor.

Last Game - Inside Houston Baptist
▪ - Five days before the National Independent Showcase Tournament this upcoming Thursday, the Lady Broncs recorded a 63-56 victory in an exhibition game against Houston Baptist on Saturday at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Lady Broncs led throughout the entire first half collecting a double-digit lead following a lay-up by Rose Esther Jean, making the score 22-8 with 10:36 left in the clock.

▪ - The Lady Broncs finished the first half shooting 36.4 percent (12-of-33) from the floor compared to 37 percent (10-of-37) for the Huskies.

▪ - UTPA came out of the locker rooms fired up as the Lady Broncs increased their lead to 12 following a fast break lay up by Robin Garrett at the 14:25 mark.

▪ - The Huskies edged their way back into the game tying the score at 50-50 with 7:22 left on the clock after a Fallon Thomas connected on a lay up.

▪ - The UTPA seniors made sure the game wouldn't get out of hand as they connected on 19 of the Lady Broncs 30 points in the final seven minutes of the game.

▪ - For the game, the Lady Broncs finished shooting 40.4 percent (23-of-57) from the field to the Huskies' 34.6 percent (18-of-52) from the floor.

▪ - Three of the Lady Broncs four seniors finished in double-digit scoring including Gray who collected 14 points and seven rebounds while Wilson added 11 and Ramirez chipped in with 10.

▪ - Leading the way for Houston Baptist was Jelela Simpson who recorded a game-high 20 points on 5-of-11 shooting, a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe to go with 10 rebounds and two assists.

UTPA Sports Information