The UTEP women’s basketball team fell short for the second time this season losing to Texas Southern 89-68 on Sunday, Nov.13, at the Don Haskins Center. Despite senior Sparkle Taylor leading the team with 12 points and 13 rebounds, the Miners could not come through with the win.
The Miners hoped to redeem themselves with this home game against Texas Southern, but were shut down throughout the game. In the opening minutes of the game, the Miners were dominating. But Texas Southern kept up with the pace of the game, trading bucket for bucket.
Despite both teams only scoring nine points for most of the first quarter, the Tigers had great transitions, which led them to break away and gain momentum. By the end of the first quarter the Miners found themselves down by six with no offensive production.
“I think what bothers me about out team is that we are not physical,” said head coach Keitha Adams. “We are going to have to commit to the weight room, we have a young team so it’s not going to happen over night.”
At the start of the second quarter, UTEP gained back momentum in their favor, closing the lead to only three points. The Tigers started to pull away midway through the second quarter escalating the lead to ten points. The Miners still had no answer for this challenge they faced. UTEP shot 35 percent from the field compared to Texas Southern with 49 percent.
Third quarter for the Miners was scoreless in the first two minutes of the quarter, which forced Adams to take an early timeout. The Miners tried to keep the lead at a manageable margin but the Tigers were just too physical for them. The Miners only scored 15 points in the quarter, ending the third with a 15 point deficit.
“We have to stay together as a team, while facing adversity,” Adams said.
Midway through fourth the Miners were down 20 plus points. The Miners were completely outscored in the game in every area except for bench points. The Tigers led 38-24 with points in the paint and had 23 points off turnovers, which is not a surprise being that the Miners had 16 turnovers during the game. The game had five lead changes, which came early in the game. Both teams put up 72 shots but the game changer was the three point line. Kaitlyn Palmer hit eight three for the game, outscoring the whole Miner team.
“There’s only one way out of this, and that just hard work,” Adams said. “We’re just going to have to get in the gym and get tougher and physical.”
The Miners are back in action on Nov. 17 against Western New Mexico at the Don Haskins Area.
