Senior forward Kayla Thornton returned from injury to lead the Miners to a 81-72 victory over Louisiana Tech at Memorial Gym.
Thornton had a double-double as she scored 25 points and collected 12 rebounds, she is now only three points shy of the all-time career record in school history.
It was a game that had plenty of momentum shifts. UTEP led 28-23 at the half buy the Lady Techsters scored the first six points of the second half and had a 48-43 lead with 11 minutes left in the game but the Miners put together a 24-10 run to take a 67-58 lead and never looked back.
The Miners outscored Louisiana Tech in the paint 34-20, the Lady Techsters converted 37 percent from the field and the Miners 48.
In addition to Thornton’s performance, sophomore guard Jenzel Nash added 23 points while senior center had 12 points and six rebounds.
For the Lady Techsters guard Kelia Shelton led the way with 25 points and forward Withney Frazier had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
With the win the Miners will now face the winner of the Southern Miss vs. Old Dominion on Friday at 11:30 a.m., at the Don Haskins Center.
Edwin Delgado may be reached at [email protected]., and @EdwinDelgado13
