Feb. 7, 2005
Feb. 7, 2005
The University of Texas - Pan American women's basketball team took their fourth straight win at home over Longwood University 65-46. The win took the team to 11-10 on the year with four games to go before the Independent Tournament.
Longwood would make their mark on the scoreboard first with a three point make from Jessica Wilkerson. UTPA's Devin Reed (Indianapolis, IN/Cowley County C.C.) would answer in the next possession with at trey of her own to tie the game 3-3 with 19:06 left in the first half.
The two squads would play close before the Lady Broncs would break away with a four point lead after Dawnne Cheadle (Roswell, NM/Seminole State C.C.) hit a jumper from the inside with 10:37 on the clock. UTPA would then hold the Lancers scoreless for six minutes and take their largest lead headed into intermission after Dottie Knerr (Winter Park, FL/Winter Park H.S.) hit inside the paint to take the score to 27-14 at the half. Knerr would finish with four points on the night while playing a career high 16 minutes.
"This was a really good opportunity to see Dottie play and do good things on the court for us. She got in the game and really played with confidence. She has great hands and good court vision which was a plus against a team who pressed us and played us tough defensively," said head coach DeAnn Craft.
In the second half, the Lady Broncs would push the lead to 15 points, 29-14, with a lay-up from Molly Schamel (Hector, NY/Yavapai College) in the opening possession of play. Schamel would finish the night with six points and a team-high eight rebounds.
After a six-point run by the Lancers, UTPA's Stacey Gooden (Houston, TX/J.F. Dobie H.S.) would spark the team offensively scoring a lay-up inside with 15:23 to play. Gooden was UTPA's top scorer on the night finishing with 11 points and three rebounds in the contest.
"Stacey is always someone who is good in our rotation. Tonight she was someone we really needed to rely on with us being in foul trouble in the post. She had a big task in front of her trying to limit their leading rebounder and then also be an offensive threat on the inside. I think she did a great job on both ends of the court and really sparked us with her energy," stated Craft.
UTPA would control the game tempo throughout the rest of the contest and push the lead to 16 points with 6:03 left to play. The Lancers would make one more run and cut the lead to nine after a jumper from Leigh Mascherin, but that was as close as they would get as UTPA would build the lead back to double digits with two free throw makes by Reed with 3:10 remaining in the game.
"We did a good job of keeping our transition game going throughout the night and not letting them slow us down. We gave them too many second chance opportunities, but were able to play aggressive and get the victory," Craft concluded.
The Lady Broncs would seal the victory 65-46 which was their largest victory over another Division I squad this season. The team will now head on the road for a game against Prairie View A&M (Feb. 9) set to tip off at 7:00 p.m.
UTPA Sports Information
