Nash, reserves step in to rout Houston Baptist

Opening the season 3-0, the UTEP women's basketball team has gained a fourth win Nov. 19 beating Houston Baptist University 82-53 putting them at a 4-0 opening before conference.

"It was a good team win today," head coach Keitha Adams said. "We talked to our starters about them taking some responsibility and setting a positive tone for the game, which they did."

Leading by as much as 43, Adams went with her reserves most of the second half, with freshman guard Jenzel Nash playing a team-high 25 minutes.

"It was great that we were able to play our younger players," Adams said. "We need to work on a few thing and fine tune our defense. Our back side help and our rotation needed to be quicker but overall it was a solid performance."

She finished with a game-high18 points on 8-of-16 shooting, none as exciting as her head-fake, side step lay up in the second half to push the Miners' lead to 66-29.

"I did that move a lot in high school," Nash said. "When I saw her standing there, I new I had to do something or else it was bound to be a foul. Even the ref told me, ‘you shook me up with that one.'"

The Huskies received the ball to open play with a made basket but UTEP answered back with an 11-2 run and never trailed after that.

"Our performance was very good tonight," sophomore forward Kayla Thornton said. "Everything we worked on we put together because we have been struggling with our defense. I think everything we worked on did well against HBU. Our main focus was defense."

In just 16 minutes of play after getting the start, Thornton finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds, helping UTEP outrebound Houston Baptist 60-38.

"Our number one thing was to rebound tonight," Thornton said. "I feel I did well along with my team's help and their effort to rebound because if we didn't, we were going to run the next day."

UTEP broke free to take a 19-5 run as Houston Baptist went just 9-of-34 for the first half.

"Coach had us working on defense a lot," Nash said. "That's the area I need to work on the most. I think I did a better job tonight playing hip-side defense and just keeping my eyes up the whole time."   

Play was slowed down in the second half due to multiple fouls on both sides. After the Miners committed just one foul in the first half, UTEP was called for 16 in the second. Houston Baptist scored the game's last 14 points after going down 43 with 4:08 to go.

Freshman forward Chrishauna Parker did not suit up for tonight game due to academic reasons but may be back by the Miners' next game against UT-Pan American at 7:05 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Don Haskins Center.

"If she is in class on Monday and taking care of business, there's a really good chance she'll be back in the mix," Adams said. "We have high expectations on and off the court. Being a good student is important to us so that's why she wasn't suited up today."

Krystal Oblinger may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.