 "Photo: Alma Hernandez/The Pan American")
The Lady Broncs (2-7) accomplished their first home win of the season this Saturday against St. Edwards University. In fact, the last few days have been more fruitful for the University of Texas-Pan American basketball program than the first month altogether.
“It feels good to win,” said senior Rose Hester Jean, after the women won for the second time in recent action. “I’m happy that we won, finally we got a… boost because it’s been really down. But we learned from every game.”
After opening the season with a string of nine losses, the Lady Broncs finally found victory Dec. 5 in Houston against Jackson State, when a jumper and free throw by freshman Bianca Torre in the last 14 seconds of overtime decided the game in favor of UTPA 49-48.
Thursday, the team went to Columbia, Mo. and was dominated 83-34 by Missouri before returning to the UTPA Field House to face St.Edwards, a struggling unit with a 1-7 mark coming in.
The Lady Broncs started slowly Saturday, but steadily got ahead in the score after Harlingen native Torre broke the 2-2 tie with a three-pointer. By the end of the first half, the hegemony of UTPA was already reflected in the score (29-17). UTPA maintained at least a 20-point lead throughout the second half and the game ended 68-41.
Senior Aleeya Grigsby led UTPA with 16 points in the game followed by Torre who scored 14 and made four of six three-pointers. Other Lady Broncs with double numbers were Jean with 11 and Maria Erlingsdottir with 10. The home side outrebounded St. Ed’s by 19, shot way better from the floor, and had fewer turnovers, as the statistics added up to a much-needed win.
“I was very happy because they really stayed sound in what we were trying to do, they were very poised…they ran our stuff very well,” said first-year head coach Denny Downing. “I think we’re getting better, and that’s the main thing. It’s been a transition, they’re working hard and they’re really trying to get better every day.”
Torre, the team’s leading scorer this season, also said that the greatest reward is to see the team improving and finding identification on the hardwood with their teammates. For her, this game proved that the team is capable of coming with winning results if it maintains focus and a positive attitude.
“It feels great because I think we all came together and did a lot better as a team with the chemistry, we had a lot of fun out there,” said the former Harlingen South star who has notched three 20-point games in her first year of college competition. “I think we are improving a lot, it all boils down to us mentally and I think that’s what we really improved on.”
The Lady Broncs are looking to maintain the momentum they’ve gained for next Saturday’s home game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. But before that, the players must hit the books and take care of their main duty as student-athletes to close the school semester on a high note.
“The biggest thing they got to do is work on their finals,” Downing said. “We’ll give them a day or two off and then we’ll try to get back in here and get refocused and get them ready to play what should be somewhat of a rival.”
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