UTEP improves to 6-0 in C-USA shorthanded

The last six times UTEP and Houston met, the Cougars were either leading or competing for a Conference-USA regular season or tournament title with Houston ending the Miners' season the last two years. This year, however, conference-leading UTEP turned the tables and avenged themselves against the Cougars in blow-out fashion.

Even with two suspended players, the Miners played 13 of their 14 players on their active roster and routed Houston 87-43 Jan. 22 at the Don Haskins Center to snap a six-game losing streak to them.

"Going back to last year and how we played, we had to come in and prove ourselves. We did good, executed what we needed and it came out good," sophomore forward Kayla Thornton said. "(Houston) is good but it's a good feeling to come in and beat them by a large portion of points."

Freshman guard Chrishauna Parker and sophomore guard Ryah Lacy were suspended this one game for breaking team rules, according to head coach Keitha Adams. Adams said she wasn't sure on the length of the suspension as she said "only time will tell." The team did not practice Jan. 23 and Adams said she wasn't sure if the two would be at practice Jan. 24 after the game.

Adams began emptying her bench early into the second half as no starters saw action the final 11 minutes. Senior guard Whitney Houston and freshman guard Syerra Davis, averaging a combined 10.8 minutes per game, finished with five and seven points, respectively. Only freshman guard Marissa Rodriguez did not play.

"It felt great. It's been a long time coming and I tell coach Adams all the time that I'm here," Houston said. "I remember last year just sitting over there and down because we lost three times to them last year but we got the great win."

Sophomore forward Kayla Thornton led the Miners with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting and junior forward Anete Steinberga had a game-high 10 rebounds, making her third start of the year.

Senior forward and leading-scorer and rebounder Gloria Brown wasn't needed much, either, as she played just five minutes, racking up four points and one board. Adams said she wasn't feeling well during shoot around prior to the game but is expecting her back for their contest Jan. 26 at Southern Miss.

"It was good to get our other post players, you know Anete was able to play more. A lot of it was rhythm and Kayla's been playing really well. Gloria didn't have a good shoot around and didn't play well so we just kind of took that avenue," Adams said.

The Miners didn't need much of Brown, as UTEP built a double-digit lead early on. Senior guard Baiba Eglite hit her first of back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Miners a 21-9 lead just over 10 minutes into the game.

Even without Brown, UTEP's inside presence was still there. The Miners outrebounded the Cougars 53-37, won the battle in the paint 36-12 and had 19 second-chance points to Houston's four.

UTEP also tied a season-low nine turnovers and had 25 assists to the Cougars' one.

Houston was lead by senior guard Roxana Button's game-high 20 points, which was 1.4 points more than her team-leading season average. She went 10-of-13 from the free throw line.

"Button's quite a player, she's been putting up big numbers for them. I thought we did a pretty good job on her the whole time but she has a way to draw fouls, knock down her free throws and quite a little player," Adams said.

C-USA leading UTEP will now play Jan. 26 at last-place Southern Miss, a team that is 0-6 during league play.

William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.