Miners fall for first time all year on last-second shot

After a last-second shot, a blown seven-point lead and a controversial call, the Miners fell for the first time all year 49-48 to UC Santa Barbara Dec. 21 at the Don Haskins Center.

"You have to tip you hat off to UC Barbara for playing really hard tonight," head coach Keitha Adams said. "They had a lot of close game loses and obviously tonight, it turned their way."  

With nine seconds to go and down one, the Gauchos' junior forward Sweets Underwood rebounded a missed three-pointer by UTEP. A Miner defender deflected the ball but UC Santa Barbara recovered the loose ball and called a timeout while the player slid on the court after diving for it. Initially, 0.9 seconds remained on the clock but the officials put 1.7 seconds after reviewing to see when the timeout was called. Underwood answered with a shot of the inbounds following the inbounds with 0.4 seconds remaining, which did not allow enough time for the Miners to get a shot off.

"We didn't know who was going to get the ball at the end," sophomore guard Kelli Willingham said. "We just knew they were going to try and get the ball in the paint and we had to be there."

UTEP led 47-40 with 2:56 to go in the game and did not hit another field goal the rest of the outing.

"We had a miserable offensive night," Adams said. "In the first half, we were shooting threes as if we were on fire and we were 1-for-12, so during half time, we talked about driving the ball but we didn't hit out free throws and we didn't throw the ball well."    

Ending the first half up 24-23, the Miners were unable to beat off sophomore guard Nicole Nesbit who pushed the Gauchos. UTEP shot 28.1 percent in that half, including 1-of-12 from three-point range.

"Our shots weren't there in the first," sophomore forward Kayla Thornton said. "Offense and defense weren't syncing up in the first but in the second, our defense got a little better."

The Miners returned in the second looking to score over the Gaucho's slow-paced offense and had more success, shooting 45.5 percent in the final 20 minutes.

UTEP, however, went just 7-of-13 from the line in the second half while making two of their four three pointers. The Gauchos reaffirmed their defense, ranked ninth in the nation, by capping the Miners' shooting average at 35.2 percent for the entire game

"All we have to do now is go back to the drawing board and work harder to get back on top," Thornton said. "We have a big game against Arizona State coming up, which means we just need to practice harder."

Adams blamed many of the Miners mistakes on two poor practices the week before and UTEP's comfort with their past games, which Adams said will change before the Miners take on Arizona State Dec. 28 in Tempe, Arizona.  

"We didn't practice very well Monday and Tuesday," Adams said. "I was concerned about it coming into this game because I'm a firm believer you play like you practice. When you hold someone to 49 points, you should win."      

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