UTEP women's basketball: Miners shoot past North Texas 69-61

UTEP's magic number in Denton Thursday night was 3.

Three Miners scored in double figures, three Miners made at least three pointers and the Orange and Blue gang combined for 11 three pointers on the evening to close out North Texas 69-61 Thursday evening in the Super Pit.

Lulu McKinney and Stacie Telles each had a trio of three point daggers in the game and tied for a team high with 16 points each.

"We grinded this one out tonight," UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said. "Our ladies played extremely hard, and we made some adjustments. The momentum kind of came up our way and we hit our free throws down the stretch."

McKinney hit a second half three pointer that would eventually lead UTEP to outscore North Texas 23-11 in the final seven minutes of the second half, McKinney's triple tied the game at 49 and the Miners would never look back.

UTEP out rebounded North Texas 45-34, led by Lawna Kennedy who pulled in a career high 13 rebounds to go along with six points.

Joining McKinney and Telles in double figures was Cameasha Turner who put up another impressive line with 15 points, eight rebounds, knocking down three trifectas.

Before UTEP made their game clinching run in the second half, the game had ten ties and 19 lead changes in the first 33 minutes of action.

Five North Texas players finished in double figures, and the Mean Green actually took an early 8-2 lead in the first five minutes of the contest, but shot 39 percent from the floor on the evening and could not answer UTEP's late run.

UTEP shot just 37 percent themselves, but collected 16 points off turnovers, and 15 second chance points, mixed with the superb three point shooting UTEP was able to frustrate North Texas down the stretch and improve to 12-14 overall, and 7-10 in C-USA play.

The Miners cemented a spot in the C-USA tournament, and will finish the regular season Saturday afternoon in Houston, with a matinee meeting against the Rice Owls at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time.