Editor’s Note: This is not the most recent UTEP women’s basketball game.
After an intense game against the Kennesaw State Owls (10-15, 5-9 Conference USA), the UTEP Miners (9-15 2-11 CUSA) fell short 68-56 at the Don Haskins Center on Feb. 20.
Senior guard Delma Zita opened the game by driving in a layup, but it did not take long until KSU got an impressive 3-pointer by sophomore guard Kailyn Fields. Throughout the match both teams went head-to-head with Kennesaw State holding a slight advantage of 17-14 at the end of the first quarter.
UTEP made a comeback, leading at the end of the second quarter, 29-39.
Despite the 10-point lead, UTEP only scored seven points in the third quarter, allowing Kennesaw State to open an 11-point lead 49-38, by the end.
The Miners could not close the gap after the third quarter, giving the Owls a chance to take home a 12-point victory.
After the game, junior forward Ndak Mbengue who scored 12 points expressed her disappointment toward the team’s performance.
“The season is not over, and we also got conference play, I feel like we just got to learn from it and step it up. We are just going to play harder,” Mbengue said. “We’re not doing good enough, even though every time we’re right there [we’re] just not good enough to win, we need to finish.”
Head Coach Keitha Adams echoed similar feelings, emphasizing the importance of playing with confidence and urgency.
“I thought we had some moments where we played tentative and scared, and you can’t play scared,” Adams said. “They came in here, none of them played scared. They did not play scared at all, and we had moments and key moments with the cautious route and played scared.”
UTEP’s women’s basketball team was back in the Don Haskins Feb. 21 and faced off against Jax State in which the team broke an 8-game losing streak, winning 52-44.
Diego Cruz-Castruita is a staff photographer and can be reached at [email protected] and @dddieggoo11 on Instagram.
