Nov. 13, 2010
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Photo Gallery by Michael Patrick Reese 
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EL PASO, TEXAS- A dominating effort on the boards (54-28), timely runs and stifling defense added up to a 72-57 win for the UTEP women's basketball team against UC Irvine in the season opener for both squads at the Don Haskins Center on Saturday.
The Miners (1-0) used a 19-3 run late in the first half to help build a 13-point halftime lead (47-34), and the Anteaters (0-1) could get no closer than 12 from that point on.
"I'm really proud of our young ladies," UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said. "UC Irvine does a lot of unique things defensively but I thought we handled it well enough. We dominated on the boards, which was one of our goals, and came out on the winning side."
Junior-college transfer Gloria Brown led the way by posting a double-double (22 points, 10 rebounds), in only 17 minutes of action. She connected on 10-of-15 tries from the floor, in addition to knocking down both of her tosses at the charity stripe. The 22 points rank as the third-highest total for a Miner in her debut, trailing only Anete Steinberga (24 points vs. Houston, 1/10/10) & Holly Russ (24 points vs. NM State, 11/28/90).
Dietra Caldwell joined Brown in double digits with 17 points, while also securing eight boards. Sophomore Kristine Vitola pitched in eight points and a career-high nine rebounds while Steinberga finished with six points and seven caroms. Freshman Kelli Willingham was effective in running the offense, dishing out a game-high seven assists.
The Miners took care of the glass, out-rebounding UCI by 26 (54-28). It is the largest positive rebounding margin against Division I opposition since the 1999-00 campaign (+27 vs. Prairie View A&M, 11/21/99) and ties as the third-biggest ever in program history.
UTEP connected on 39.1 percent of its shots (25-of-64), including a stout 50 percent (16-of-32) in the opening period. The Miners were aggressive in their play, earning 17 trips to the free-throw line. They connected on 16 of them, with the 94.1 percent checking in tied as the fifth-best readout in school history.
UCI was challenged to get into a rhythm, making just 16-of-50 shots (32.0) percent. Mikah Maly-Karros poured in a game-high 24 points, but most of the damage was done at the charity stripe (11-of-16). Kiara Belen (10 points) was the only other Anteater to reach double digits.
UCI surged out to a 6-2 lead over the first three minutes. UTEP countered with a 7-2 stretch of its own to stake its first lead of the contest (9-8) after Brown filled up a lay-up with 15:11 to play in the first half.
Things were back-and-forth for the next several minutes, with UC Irvine clinging to an 18-16 edge with 8:59 on the clock. Junior Erika Warren knocked down a jumper to tie things up before Caldwell drained a long three. The triple broke the deadlock, in addition to igniting what would prove to be a game-deciding run.
UTEP blitzed UCI to the tune of 19-3 over the next four minutes on the way to blowing the game wide open. Brown capped it by sinking a pair of free throws to afford the Miners a 35-21 lead with 4:18 left in the first half.
UTEP pushed the advantage out to as many as 16 on a pair of occasions before settling for the aforementioned 13-point lead at the break (47-34).
Up-tempo play was prominent at the onset of the second half, and the Orange and Blue adapted to the style nicely. Caldwell drilled a three-pointer to make it 54-36 with 16:42 to play. The Anteaters continued to play hard, however, whittling the deficit down to 12 (60-48) with 7:34 left in the period.
That was as close as the visitors would get, though. Brown halted the 6-0 spurt after converting on a lay-up which afforded the Miners a 62-48 lead with 6:19 remaining in regulation.
UTEP will be back in action when it plays host to New Mexico State in the SONIC® ® America's Drive-In® battle of I-10 at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
