For Immediate Release: Sunday, December 29, 2002
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

LADY BRONCS FALL TO HOST MONTANA AT LADY GRIZ HOLIDAY CLASSIC

MISSOULA, MT-For the first 28 minutes, The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team had the upper hand in their game against host Montana in the first round of the Lady Griz Holiday Classic at Dahlberg Arena Saturday night.

However, the Lady Griz outscored Texas-Pan American, 14-4 in the final 12 minutes and 10 seconds of the game and went on to a 60-50 victory.

Senior guard Alex Gravel (Chicoutimi, Quebec/Vanier HS) scored 16 of her 22 points in the first half as the Lady Broncs trailed at halftime, 31-30. Gravel made six of seven shots from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including four of five from three-point range.

Sophomore guard Jennifer Piwonka's (Louise, TX/Louise HS) jumper and a layup by senior forward Naima Williams (Houston, TX/Clear Brook HS) gave UTPA a 36-33 lead early in the second half. Moments later, three-pointers by Gravel and Piwonka and Williams' layup staked the Lady Broncs to their biggest lead of the game, 44-37 with 15:48 remaining.

Montana used jump shots by Hollie Tyler and Crystal Baird to close the gap to 44-41. Williams hit a jump shot to give UTPA a 46-41 lead with 13:29 remaining, but Katie Edwards' jumper, Baird's three-point play and Corrie Villegas' jumper allowed UM to take the lead. Gravel hit a jumper with 9:25 left to give the Lady Broncs their final lead at 49-48, but a free throw by junior guard Amanda Carlow (Pine Ridge, SD/Rapid City CHS/Northeast CC) with five minutes to play accounted for all of the rest of UTPA's scoring.

Gravel's 22 points led all scorers, while Williams added 10 and Piwonka had seven. Sophomore forward Jennifer Arriola (Rio Rico, AZ/Rio Rico HS) added nine rebounds as each team finished with 37 boards. Tyler and Baird had 16 points each for the Lady Griz.

"I'm proud of our team, they played their tails off tonight," said UTPA Interim Head Coach Tracy Anderson. "We couldn't score many points in that final stretch, we got some good looks and we couldn't connect, and we also had a stretch where we turned the ball over three times in a row, and they came down and scored. They have some big time post players, and we did a great job on them. Alex shot the ball well, and we did a good job of getting her the ball. This was a much better effort than we had right before the Christmas break."

The Lady Broncs fell to 0-9 with the defeat, while Montana improved to 7-2. UTPA will play Mississippi State Sunday at 7:05 p.m. for third place, while UM will play Utah for the championship. MSU, which is ranked 14th nationally, fell to Utah, 69-65 in the other first round game Saturday night.

"Mississippi State is very athletic, and they have one of the top players in the country in LaToya Thomas," said Anderson. "They will press and try to cause havoc. We will have to take care of the ball and stop Thomas when we play them."

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