CORPUS CHRISTI, TX-The University of Texas-Pan American women’s basketball team mounted a fine comeback in the second half of their game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Lady Broncs, they trailed at halftime, 48-21, and ended up falling to the Lady Islanders, 83-69, at the Memorial Coliseum.

Leading, 14-12, with 12:45 to play in the first half, TAMU-CC scored 29 consecutive points. UTPA didn’t score for more than eight minutes, and when they got a free throw from junior center Julie Porter (Manchester, MI/Manchester HS/Kalamazoo Valley JC) and a three-point field goal from freshman guard Anette Johansen (Oslo, Norway/Foss Videregaaende HS), they trailed by 31 points.

The Lady Broncs bounced back in the second half. They made 50 per cent of their shots from the field, committed only 10 turnovers, were perfect from the free throw line, and outscored TAMU-CC, 48-35. .

“It was really a tale of two halves,” said UTPA Head Coach Karin Nicholls. “When they scored the first six points in that run, it seemed like we dropped our heads and we got frustrated instead of fighting our way out of it. After the run, we realized that all we had to do was move the ball, show some patience, and play good defense. We played much better in the second half. We were more patient, we moved the ball, and got open shots. Hopefully, this is something that we can learn from. I thought our first five players did a good job.”

Senior forward Kelli Kreuser (Bettendorf, IA/Davenport North HS/Truman State University) led the Lady Broncs with 21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and five steals. Johansen added 19 points, equaling her career high, and added four assists and three steals. Junior forward Naima Williams (Houston, TX/Clear Brook HS) had 19 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Radiajah Sinnette (Houston, TX/Madison HS) also grabbed nine rebounds as UTPA outrebounded the Islanders, 41-28.

Kristin Rogers led TAMU-CC with 27 points, Kendra Smith added 22, and Shakayla Hawkins contributed 11.

The Lady Broncs fell to 6-19 with the defeat, while the Islanders improved to 14-11. UTPA will return to action when they visit Lipscomb and Gardner-Webb next weekend.

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