Jan. 28, 2010
Final Stats
| Final Gamebook in PDF Format 
EL PASO, TEXAS- In a defensive-minded contest, the UTEP women's basketball team fought hard but ultimately came up short at Tulane, 57-47, inside Fogelman Arena Thursday evening.
High-pressure defense from both squads throughout the tilt put points at a premium, and the score was tied at 39 with 9:48 to play. The Green Wave (15-4, 4-2 C-USA) managed to get their offense going for a short stretch, though, with the result being a game-deciding 8-0 run over the next four minutes.
The Miners (12-8, 3-3 C-USA) regrouped and whittled the deficit to three (47-44) but the homestanding squad countered with seven straight points to put the game out of reach.
The two squads combined for 40 turnovers (21 by UTEP and 19 by Tulane) and neither had much of rhythm throughout the tilt. The Miners held the high-octane TU offense- which entered at 72 points per game and 45 percent shooting from the floor- in check for the majority of the contest. TU made just 35.8 from the field, but the Green Wave did knock down eight three-point tosses.
Those triples proved to be too much for UTEP to overcome, with shots not falling for the visitors at their usual rate. The Miners finished the game at 35.6 percent from the floor, but were an uncharacteristic 4-of-16 from beyond-the-arc.
Chassity Brown and Tiffany Aidoo led the way for the Green Wave with 17 and 15 points, respectively, while Dietra Caldwell and Jareica Hughes (11 points each) paced the Orange and Blue.
Tulane was the aggressors early on, bolting out to a 7-0 lead over the first seven minutes of the period. The Miners got on the board courtesy of a pair of tosses at the free-throw line by Kristine Vitola. That was followed by a silky smooth jumper from Briana Green, and UTEP was down by just three (7-4) with 11:24 left.
The Green Wave struck back, however, and as result led by nine (19-10) with 4:22 remaining in the opening period. UTEP asserted itself nicely to close out the period, using an 11-4 surge to pull within two at the break (23-21).
The Miners continued the surge in the second stanza, with six straight points to take their first lead of the game. UTEP extended its edge by as many on four on a pair of occasions, but TU countered with the aforementioned surge.
UTEP will be back in action when it takes on Southern Miss on the road at 3 p.m. MT.
