UTEP Women's Basketball: Miners grind out win over Alcorn State

UTEP shot right at 40 percent for the game, and Stacie Telles hit a game breaking three pointer down the stretch of the second half to guide the Miners over the Alcorn State Braves 63-53 Sunday afternoon.

Telles did a little bit of everything scoring eight points to go along with five rebounds, and four assists.  Cameasha Turner led three Miners in double figures with 13 points, sophomore Sparkle Taylor, and freshman Lulu McKinney each finished with 11 points.

It was a grind out every bucket, and good look type of first half that saw UTEP notch the largest lead of the first frame with a 15-10 edge at the 6:10 mark thanks to a pair of free throws from McKinney who also had a game high seven assists.

Despite the lead, UTEP was is in the midst of an almost seven minute field goal drought until Lawana Kennedy tied things at 21 with 48 seconds left that sent the teams into the locker rooms deadlocked at 21.

The Miners would find themselves down 37-34 after Jazmin Strane sank a jumper at the 10:40 mark of the second half, then Keitha Adams went to a full court press that changed the tempo into the Miners favor.

With that ferocious Adams made and signature full court tempo, UTEP jumped out to a 43-37 lead with 8:31 left via a 9-0 run that included a triple from McKinney, and a fast break layup from Turner to cap off the charge.

Although Norianna Haynes would not let the Braves go down quietly by nailing a three pointer that cut the UTEP lead to 45-43 with under seven minutes to play.

But after a Stacie Telles clutch three pointer gave UTEP a 56-47 lead with 2:17 to go, Cameasha Tuner would make five out of her last six free three throws in the final forty seconds to close out their fifth win of the season.  The Miners finished 18/23 from the free throw line, and had assists on 15 of their 21 field goals in the game.

Olivia Brown scored a game high 18 points though fouled out adding seven rebounds and four steals to her totals, Haynes added 15 points for Alcorn State who turned it over 23 times, though edged UTEP on the boards 35-34.

Turner led UTEP with 7 rebounds, and Lawana Kennedy would add 8 points on 4/6 shooting.

UTEP improves their record to 5-4 overall and 5-1 record in the Don through the non-conference slate, and will open Conference USA action Friday as they host North Texas in the Don Haskins Center at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.