Dec. 27, 2007

Game Notes - Battle at the Border in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team will face Lafayette-College at 6 p.m. as they host the Third annual Battle at the Border Tournament on Friday (Dec. 28).

▪ - The Lady Broncs fell to 6-6 on the season after two setbacks at the Florida Gulf Coast Classis in Fort Myers, FL.

▪ - This will be the second meeting between both teams in school history with the Broncs holding on to a 1-0 advantage. The last time both of these squads met was on Dec. 29, 2004 in Easton, PA where the Lady Broncs pulled away with a 59-51 victory over the Leopards.

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

Scouting the Opponent - Lafayette College (6-4)
▪ - The Leopards fell to 6-4 on the season after a 46-45 setback over Vermont on Saturday (Dec. 8). Lafayette College was on a five-game winning streak before the loss to Vermont.

▪ - Lafayette College comes into the Battle at the Border Tournament with a 4-3 road record.

▪ - The Leopards are led by Vane Van De Venter who is averaging 18.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. Van De Venter collected a team-high 10 points and seven rebounds including four assists in 35 minutes of action.

▪ - Van De Venter was named the Patriot League's Women's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday (Dec. 3) after a week in which she tallied 73 points in three games, including her 1,000th career point.

▪ - The Leopards finished the game shooting 37 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from behind the arc and 64.3 percent from the free throw line.

▪ - Lafayette-College will look to grab their 400 win of the season against the Lady Broncs as they currently sit at 399 wins in the 35th season that the women's basketball program has existed.

Leader of the Broncs
▪ - DeAnn Craft is in her fifth season at the helm of the UTPA women's basketball program with a 45-68 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 and Wilson Rank In Top-Five of NCAA Women's Basketball
▪ - Senior LeKeisha Gray is currently ranked fifth among Division I women's basketball programs in three-point field goals per game with 3.1 percent.

▪ - Gray has hit 22 of her 53 three-point attempts this season. The 5'4 guard recorded a career-high 24 points, inlcuding six three-pointers in a 62-56 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Dec. 3.

▪ - Tiona Wilson ranks second in three-point field goal percentage with 56 percent, banking 14 of her 25 attempts from behind the arc.

▪ - Wilson recorded a career-high 22 points and seven three-pointers in a triumph over Huston-Tillotson on Nov. 17.

Senior Leadership Key To Victory
▪ - The Lady Broncs return four seniors to the 2007-08 campaign in LeKeisha Gray, Tamara Vaughn, Cinthia Ramirez and Tiona Wilson.

▪ - Senior Gray emerged for the Lady Broncs last season as the floor general, playing in 29 games and starting in 28 contests. Gray averaged 10.6 points 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in her first season in a Lady Bronc uniform.

▪ - Vaughn made an immediate impact in her first season with the Lady Broncs as she was selected to both the All-Independent Newcomer Team and All-United Basketball League Newcomer Team. She was the first player in UTPA history to earn Independent Player of the Week honors when she achieved the milestone following a 22-point, four rebounds, three-steal and two assist performance.

▪ - Shooting gurad, Ramirez appeared in 24 games during her junior season where she started in 14 occiasions for the Broncs. Scored a career-high six points on 2-of-2 shooting, including 2-of-2 shooting from behind the three-point line, on the road at Sun Belt Conference-opponent Lafayette.

▪ - Senior Wilson averaged 2.5 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 0.4 steals per game. Scored a career-high 11 points on the road at Utah Valley State where she finished 4-of-4 from the field, including 3-of-3 from behind the three-point line, to go along with two steals.

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.

UTPA Sports Information