Nov. 13, 2004
Contact: Rick Nixon (210) 458-4551
TAMU-Commerce scores come-from-behind 69-62 win over UTSA
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Trailing by 15 points at halftime, Texas A&M-Commerce came-from-behind to score a 69-62 win over UTSA in women’s exhibition basketball on Saturday afternoon at the UTSA Convocation Center.
TAMU-Commerce, which won its exhibition opener, was led by Hazel Woods with 21 points, while VaKesha Turner added 16 and Portia Mitchell, 15.
UTSA, which dropped to 0-2 in exhibition play, was led by Nicole Dunson with 13 points. The Roadrunners shot 33.9 percent from the floor, including only 6 of 27 shooting in the second half.
“In a game like this you certainly find areas that you need to work on before we open next week,” said UTSA coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair. “We missed too many layups and easy shots in the second half and Texas A&M-Commerce did a good job of getting back in the game.”
Trailing 37-22 at intermission, the Lions opened the second half with a 29-10 run and led 51-47 on a layup by Althea Byfield with 7:26 to play.
After UTSA rallied to tie the score at 51-all, Byfield gave TAMU-Commerce the lead for good on a layup with 6:40 to play.
The Lions stretched the advantage to 60-54 on another Byfield basket with 3:01 remaining. A basket by Dunson cut the gap to 60-58 with 2:07 to play.
TAMU-Commerce, which connected on 16 of 29 second half field goal attempts, closed the game on a 9-4 run to win going away.
UTSA had built a 37-22 halftime lead behind 11 points by Dunson and 14 of 32 shooting..
The Roadrunners will open the regular season on Friday, Nov. 19 when they host the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center.
“We know Corpus Christi will be a physical team just like we saw today,” Blair said. “We are going to have to play better if we hope to win that game.”