Miners Stymie Aggies In Second Half, Complete Sweep

The UTEP Miners brought out the brooms, and the defense in the second half as they ran past New Mexico State 80-61 Tuesday night.

The Aggies came out with a balanced 3-point attack that would keep the game close in the first half and even give them a one point lead mid-way through the first stanza.

The Aggies went 5-10 from behind the arc in the first half, while forcing the Miners into 7 turnovers and found themselves within four, 39-35 at the half.

Though it was the speed and depth of the Miners that would take over as the Miners would force 9 turnovers in the first 9 minutes of the second half, leading the Miners to power their way to line and to the bucket.

Those turnovers came large in part to Keitha Adams coming out of the break in a tough full court press that forced the Aggies to try to run, and broke them out of their 3-point shooting rhythm, while playing without a true point guard or ball handler.

Chrishauna Parker lead the second half charge on offense with 11 points in second frame, finishing with a career high 19 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 6 steals, 3 of which came in the second half adding to the defensive takeover.

Kayla Thornton added her third 20-point game of the season with a game high 20 points while grabbing 5 rebounds.

The Miners cashed in on 20-points off 24 Aggie turnovers, 17 of came in the second half as the Miners pressure forced numerous errant Aggie passes.

Jenzel Nash paced the Miners with 10 first half points and finished with 14 as she seems back into form and playing more minutes.

The Miners also did a good job in controlling the boards as they grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, and had five different players with five rebounds or more.

The Miners 7-0 record will surely be tested this Saturday as SMU visits the Haskins Center at 4:30 PM MDT, part of a double header with the UTEP men taking on Sacramento State at 7:05 PM MDT.