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HOUSTON, TEXAS- Briana Green tallied 14 points while Anete Steinberga pitched in 12 but the UTEP women’s basketball team still came up short against Houston, falling 84-54 inside Hofheinz Pavilion Thursday evening.
The Miners (15-13, 6-8 C-USA) looked to be in good shape early on, bolting out to a 13-7 lead but they could not sustain that momentum. A small spurt by the Cougars (14-13, 8-6) trimmed the advantage to three (17-14 with 13:24). UH then utilized an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to pull ahead, and as it turned out, it would never relinquish the edge.
The Miners came close to re-staking the lead, though, as Steinberga buried a jumper to make the score 26-25 with 6:57 to play in the first period. UH countered with a spurt of its own, but the Miners were still in striking distance heading into the final five minutes of the stanza (34-29).
The fortunes of the game changed for good, however, with UH rattling off 12 straight points in a gut-wrenching four-minute sequence. Steinberga halted it by draining the first three pointer of her career, but the damage had been done.
It was a 14-point deficit at the break (46-32), and the Miners could never get closer than that down the stretch.
Houston connected on 50.8 percent of its shot from the floor (30-of-59), with its offense being powered by a quartet of players. Courtney Taylor and Roxana Button each finished with 18 points, while Lesslee Mason (17 points) and Brittney Scott (11 points) also got in on the act.
UTEP’s offense enjoyed some fine moments as well, particularly in the first half when it drained 46.7 percent of its shots (14-of-30). UH tightened its defense up after the break, and the Orange and Blue finished the game with a shooting percentage of 39.3 (22-of-56).
Timika Williams and Kristine Vitola buoyed Green and Steinberga in the scoring department with nine points each, while Jareica Hughes chipped in six to go along with her team-high three assists.
The little things proved to be big, with UH out-scoring UTEP on points in the paint (33-22), points off turnovers (24-15), second-chance points (14-2) and fast-break points (10-2). The Cougars out-boarded UTEP 38-27, with 12 of those rebounds coming at the offensive end.
The Miners will look to bounce back when they take on Rice in their final regular-season road game of the year at 1 p.m. MT on Saturday. The contest will be carried locally in El Paso on KHRO 1150 AM.
