UTEP women beat Sam Houston, advance to CUSA quarterfinals
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – The UTEP women’s basketball team made light work of Sam Houston in the Conference USA Tournament play-in game. The Miners beat the Bearkats 78-64 at Propst Arena on Tuesday to advance to the CUSA Tournament quarterfinals.
With the win, No. 8 seed UTEP advanced to the quarterfinals where it will face the CUSA regular season champions and top-seeded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. UTEP went 0-2 against MTSU in the regular season.
UTEP and MTSU will square off at Propst Arena on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. MT/11:30 a.m. CT. The game will stream on ESPN+.
GAME RECAP (Courtesy: UTEP Athletics)
Despite a close game at half, the Miners stepped on the gas in third and fourth quarters, leading by as many as 19 with eight minutes left in the final frame.
UTEP outperformed Sam Houston in nearly every stat category, winning the battles for points in the paint (48-14), points off turnovers (22-8), rebounding (37-35), and blocks (3-1), to name a few. The Miners also forced 17 turnovers from the Bearkats while committing just 10 themselves.
Luisa Vydrova had herself a night, posting a career-best 19 points on 72.7 percent (8-11) shooting to lead the Miners, followed by Jane Asinde with 18. Ivane Tensaie, Mariama Sow, and Aaliyah Stanton tallied nine points apiece, with all of Tensaie’s coming from beyond the arc.
Mahri Petree paced the Orange and Blue on the glass with eight rebounds while also posting a game-high three steals. Delma Zita dished out a game-high seven assists. Asinde, Sow, and Stanton each recorded one block in the contest.
UTEP finished the game shooting 47.7 percent (31-65) from the field and 42.9 percent (6-14) from three. The Miners also shot 83.3 percent from the charity stripe, the second-best free throw percentage from the team this season, following only the contest against California Baptist (84.0 percent).
“First off, I want to tip my hat to Sam Houston, they play extremely hard, and they really defend,” head coach Keitha Adams said. “We did a good job getting the ball inside and 48 points in the paint today was tremendous. Us taking care of the ball and only having 10 turnovers was huge. I thought we controlled the game in a positive way.”
The Bearkats started the game with an 8-0 run, but the Miners fought back and pulled ahead, 19-15, by the end of the first.
UTEP maintained its lead (35-29) in the second quarter. Asinde and Vydrova paced the team with eight points each.
The Orange and Blue shot 41.9 percent (13-31) from the floor, 33.3 percent (2-6) from long distance, and 87.5 percent (7-8) from the foul line in the first half. The team had 16 rebounds, four assists, two steals, and two blocks.
The Miners came alive in the third quarter, pouring in 25 points to take a 60-45 lead into the fourth quarter.
Sam Houston never got closer than 12 the rest of the way, and UTEP ran away with the 14-point victory. All seven Miners on the scoresheet tallied at least five points.
The Bearkats shot 39.3 percent (22-56) from the field, 40.7 percent (11-27) from three, and 75.0 percent (9-12) from the foul line. They pulled down 35 rebounds, tallied 15 assists, five steals, and a block. Shanti Henry led Sam Houston with 19 points, followed by Sydnee Kemp with 17 and Kassidy Dixon with 11. Kaylee Jefferson grabbed a team-best seven rebounds and Alexus Seaton dished out a team-high six assists.
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