Dec. 29, 2007

Game Notes - St. Louis University in PDF Format
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Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team will face St. Louis University in the championship game at 7 p.m. at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

▪ - The Lady Broncs improved to 7-6 overall with a first round 60-55 victory over Lafayette-College on Friday (Dec. 28).

▪ - This will be the third all-time meeting between the Lady Broncs and St. Louis with the series evened at 1-1. The last meeting was in 2003 with the Billikens rolling to a 77-45 victory.

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

Scouting the Opponent - St. Louis University
▪ - Five Saint Louis players scored in double figures, and a quick start in each half propelled the Billikens to a 79-54 victory over Lamar in the opening round of the Battle at the Border Tournament on Friday.

▪ - Lauren Woods scored 15 of her game-high 17 points, including 9-of-10 from the free-throw line, in the opening period to power the Billikens (5-8) to their highest first-half point total of the season. Saint Louis shot 50 percent (15-of-30) and forced 13 Lamar turnovers en route to a 42-27 halftime cushion.

▪ - Saint Louis overpowered Lamar on the boards, earning a 40-24 rebounding advantage that included 13 offensive caroms. Kemezys grabbed seven rebounds and Hennegan added six to lead the Bills to their largest margin on the glass this season.

▪ - SLU tied its season high by collecting 12 steals, including five by Theresa Lisch. Lamar's 23 turnovers tied for the highest total by a SLU opponent this year.

Leader of the Lady 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.

Last Game - Inside Lafayette-College (6-4)
▪ - LeKeisha Gray led the Lady Broncs with a 18 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-8 from behind the arc and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe to go along with seven rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes of action.

▪ - It was a scoreless first half until a couple of free throws by newcomer Jessica Walker put the Lady Broncs up by two at the 15:16 mark but the Leopards found themselves on the board after a pair of freebies by Emily Garner, making the score 4-2 with 13:55 remaining.

▪ - The Lady Broncs rolled to ten point advantage after a steal by Rose Esther Jean and a dish to Walker for an easy lay-up, making the score 13-3 at the 11:37 mark. The Leopards fired back with a run and cut the Lady Broncs lead by three after a three-pointer by Cristin Zavocki.

▪ - The Lady Broncs finished the first half shooting 37.5 percent (9-of-24) from the field to the Leopards 23.3 percent (7-of-30) from the floor.

▪ - A fired up Lafayette-College opened the second half on a 7-0 run taking a 31-30 lead with 16:41 remaining in the game but a three-pointer by Tamara Vaughn put the Lady Broncs back on top by two, 33-31.

▪ - The Leopards were able to tie the game up after a pair of free throws by Garner but once again the Lady Broncs continued to battle back and extend their lead to seven points with 44 seconds left in the game.

▪ - In the final 30 seconds of the game, the Leopards never quit as they edged UTPA's lead by two but the Lady Broncs were able to convert on several free throws to seal their seventh victory of the season.

▪ - For the game, the Lady Broncs finished shooting 40 percent (18-of-45) from the field, 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from behind the arc, and 72.7 percent (16-of-22) from the charity stripe.

▪ - Tiona Wilson collected 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting, 4-of-7 from three-point range, and 3-of-4 from the line, to go along with four assists while Walker chipped in with a career-high nine points and six rebounds in 31 minutes of action.

▪ - Elizabeth Virgin finished with 14 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes of action for the Leopards.

UTPA Sports Information