UTEP women's basketball: Cameasha Turner charges UTEP past Charlotte 75-72

Cameasha Turner hit two free throws with three seconds left in the game adding to her 26 points on the night that helped push UTEP past Charlotte 75-72 Thursday evening.

UTEP would fight through nine ties, nine lead changes, and shoot 7 out of 13 from behind the three point line to pick up their second straight conference win.

Both teams would play to a 15-15 tie in the first nine minutes of the game despite a three minute scoring drought for UTEP.

Charlotte would make the first move of the game with an 11-1 run that pushed the 49ers out to a 26-16 lead with 8:14 left in the first half.

The Miners would find themselves down 30-18 two minutes later, though thanks to a barrage of threes the Miners would go on a 16-2 run capped of by a three pointer from Lulu McKinney to tie things up at 34 with two and a half minutes left till the halftime break.

McKinney opened the second half with her second triple of the evening to tie things up at 39, although the 49ers would jump out to a 48-41 edge after Lefty Webster drilled a three to cap off a 8-2 Charlotte swing at the 17:30 mark.

A pair of free throws from Alex Alexander sustained the 49er second half lead at 59-53 with 11:32 to play.

Then Turner, and Daeshianna McCants took over for about a five minute stretch to cut into the margin.

McCants finished a 7-3 momentum swing for UTEP with three straight points that brought them within a bucket at 63-61, but Charlotte answered with a pair of free throws on the other end to push the margin back to 65-61 49ers with 5:52 to play.

Lawana Kennedy finished with seven points on the night, but added two huge buckets during a 9-3 UTEP run and put UTEP ahead 69-67 with one of her buckets at the 3:23 mark.

Stacie Telles would come up with a huge steal almost a minute later and added a tough floater on the ensuing possession to change the game and give UTEP a 71-70 edge right as things went under the two minute mark.

Charlotte would only get two field goals to fall in the final ten minutes of the game, as Turner would end up scoring UTEP's last four points of the game.   Lulu McKinney stole the in bounds pass on Charlotte's last gasp for a tie after Turner's clutch makes from the line in the final seconds to push UTEP's record to 10-11 overall, and 5-7 in C-USA play.

Telles finished with 13 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 5/6 shooting.  Sparkle Taylor added eight points and five rebounds, McKinney chipped in seven points, three assists, and pair of three pointers, to go along with the game winning theft in the final seconds.

The 49ers attempted 33 free throws and doubled up the Miners in second chance points (14-7), though UTEP would use 24 second half points in the paint, and 13 second half points off turnovers to slip by the Niners for a much needed road win.

Tuner reached the 26 point plateau for the second straight game,and has scored 18 or more in her last four outings.

Charlotte had four score in double figures led by Alexander with 17 points, but were 2/13 from three point land and fall to 9-14 overall and a 5-9 conference record.

UTEP continues their three game road swing with Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon, you can the call live on 600 ESPN El Paso starting at noon on Saturday.