Feb. 24, 2007
Box Score
El Paso, Texas - The SMU women's basketball team erased a 13-point deficit in the second half to overtake the UTEP Miners Saturday night by the score of 68-58 at the Don Haskins Center on the campus of UTEP. With the win, SMU closes out the regular season with a 17-11 record and takes a 9-7 league record into next week's Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship in Tulsa, Okla. Even though the official seedings will be announced by the league on Sunday, SMU should go into the Championships as the No. 6 seed.
In the first half, SMU was plagued by turnovers - 13 - in which UTEP turned into 10 points. The Mustangs shot 40% from the field but grew cold, posting a scoring drought from the 5:35 mark in the first half until early into the second half. SMU did not attempt a single free throw in the first half and sent the Miners to the line five times. As a result, UTEP went into the intermission with a 29-22 lead.
In the second half, the Mustangs came out ablaze but the Miners increased their lead to 13 points at the 15:07 mark (41-28). That's when SMU junior Katy Cobb caught fire, scoring the next 13 consecutive points for SMU and getting the Mustangs back to within two points. Sharee Shepherd knotted the game at 45-45 with an uncontested lay-up. From that point on, a renewed and invigorated Mustang squad took care of business and gave UTEP a run for its money. SMU and UTEP traded leads, but SMU tied the game at 55-55 with just over seven minutes remaining and did not look back. The Mustangs made the most of their free throws and played smarter basketball, holding on for the win.
Cobb scored a game-high 18 points - all in the second half, including 3-of-3 from three-point range. Freshman Jillian Samuels added 15 points while Janielle Dodds contributed 12 points and seven boards. For UTEP, Saturday's loss was only the second home loss at the Haskins Center all season and first home loss in conference play. Izabela Pierkarska scored a team-high 18 points while Timika Williams turned in an 11-point, 14-rebound effort.
Unofficially, No. 6 seed SMU will take on No. 11 seed UCF Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. in the first round of tournament play.
