In front of their largest crowd of the season and a national-television audience, the Miners turned to an unlikely source to tie and complete a school-record 19-point comeback.
Freshman guard Jenzel Nash scored 17 points, all of them coming in the second half, and UTEP rallied from a 41-22 halftime deficit to defeat the Memphis Tigers 66-60 Jan. 8 at the Don Haskins Center.
"Nash gave us a really good spark and we really played hard in the second half," head coach Keitha Adams said. "I started Jenzel because I thought she gave us some plusses in the first half and so guess what? She showed us that prolific scoring that she has and she had a heck of a second half."
The Miners scored the second half's first 17 points with Nash responsible for 11 of those and the first seven. Memphis missed their first 10 shots over the first seven minutes of the second half.
"(At halftime, Adams) said you guys are playing like you're scared. It was true in a sense because we weren't playing defense, with players hitting wide open shots and we had a great scouting report so that shouldn't have happened," Nash said.
The Tigers went back up 47-41, which UTEP responded with a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game off a pair of free throws by junior forward Kristine Vitola at the 8:40 mark.
The two teams exchanged baskets over the next four minutes until a jumper by Nash put the team up for good at 54-53 with 4:42 remaining. Another jumper by sophomore forward Kayla Thornton from the short corner put the Miners up 58-53 to complete the 6-0 run and give UTEP their largest lead until the final score.
"When I shot that, it helped us but I think the game wasn't over. We still had a lot of time to play defense and offense," Thornton said.
The Miners were able to get their easy shots to go in the second half, holding an 18-6 advantage in the paint, 11-3 off second-chance opportunities and 6-0 on the break. Their bench also outscored Memphis 24-3 in the second half and 30-6 for the entire game.
Leading scorer and senior forward Gloria Brown had six of her eight points in the first half but nine of her 11 rebounds in the second. She also finished with six blocks. Thornton matched Nash's game-high 17 and added eight rebounds. Nash was entering the game averaging 6.4 points and 19.8 minutes per game. She topped her scoring average in 17 minutes of action.
UTEP shot 41 percent in the second half after hitting 26.5 in the first but their defense also improved after heading into the locker room. After shooting 56.7 percent in the first half, the Tigers went 7-of-33 in the second. Leading scorer and Pre-Season Conference-USA Player of the Year senior guard Brittany Carter was held to eight points, nine below her average.
Junior forward Nicole Dickson was held scoreless in the second half after scoring 15 in the first half. Senior forward Jasmine Lee finished with 16 points and seven rebounds with 10 of her points coming in the first half. She was hurt during the opening minutes of the second half, limiting her minutes during the Miners' run.
"I think when she went down, that had an effect on the team. What a warrior because she came back out and played," Adams said. "Even though I don't want to play against her, I'm glad she's ok."
Memphis controlled the first half from the beginning. After winning the tip, senior forward Jasmine Lee hit a layup that set off a 6-0 run for the Tigers. Dickson took over from that point, hitting Memphis' next three field goals, all from long range, that extended the Tigers' lead to 17-4.
The Miners did not score their 10th point until the 9:58 mark after going down 18 points. Memphis closed the half on an 11-2 run, hitting the last nine points, to take a 41-22 lead into the half.
UTEP will now host Tulsa at 7:05 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Don Haskins Center.
William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!