Nov. 18, 2005
The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team (0-1) dropped the first game of the season to a tough Auburn Tigers (1-0) squad 85-32 in Auburn, AL at the Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Friday (Nov. 18).
The Lady Broncs couldn't find a rhythm on offense as they were only able to make nine field goals on the night, shooting just 17.6% from the floor. The Tigers made good use of quality shooting as they shot at a 52.6% clip, connecting on 6-16 from behind the three-point arc.
Auburn got started early, jumping out to a quick 13-0 lead, with they Lady Broncs not managing to score until the 15:50 mark when Dottie Knerr (Winter Park, FL/Winter Park H.S.) hit a jumper to get UTPA on the board. Knerr finished the game with a team high 10 points along with three rebounds and four steals before fouling out of the game.
The Tigers used a combination of precision offense to go with a dominant defense to completely take the Lady Broncs out of the game. Auburn forced 22 turnovers en route to collecting 16 steals and seven blocks for the game.
"When you play a game like this one, you know what to expect. We had no way to simulate their height, power and athleticism on offense. They played excellent on defense as well. We didn't convert on a lot of our scoring opportunities and that hurt us tonight. We weren't concerned about the final score. Our concerns were whether or not we could rebound against a bigger team and playing consistently for the entire game," said head coach DeAnn Craft.
The Lady Broncs next game will be their home opener as they host the Prairie View A&M Lady Panthers at 7:30 p.m. at the UTPA Fieldhouse.
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