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SPORTS
| february 13, 2004
Women's Basketball
Lady Mavs lasso Cowgirls 63-55
Their opponents played an aggressive
game, pulling the women from their usual style.
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| Special to The Shorthorn: The Contraband |
| Lady Mavs senior guard LaToya
Lewis is stopped by MSU’s Clarissa Clark
in the first half of the game. The Lady Mavs won
63-55. |
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By Dustin
Eberhart
The Shorthorn Staff
Ask women’s basketball coach Donna Capps the type of game
her team played last night. Her answer would make it seem as if
the Lady Mavericks played at the Activities Building instead of
Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles, La.
In UTA’s 63-55 win over the Cowgirls on Thursday night, Capps
said her team got trapped in McNeese’s “recreational
type of basketball,” drawing the women out of their style
of play and making the game closer than it should’ve been.
“They played real aggressive against us — they played
a recreational type of basketball game,” Capps said. “I
don’t like to talk down on their style of play, but they played
very loose and physical. Eventually, we started playing that type
of game.”
The Lady Mavs have had problems committing turnovers all season,
and these problems persisted Thursday night. UTA committed 27 turnovers
and McNeese finished with 29. Most recently, the Lady Mavs’
turnovers have led to losses, but UTA was victorious this time.
Capps said the key was overcoming adversity.
“We endured a lot of problems,” she said. “The
worst thing was turnovers, so we had to fight twice as hard to make
up for those. In the past, we rolled over with these type of problems,
but tonight, we fought through them and endured.”
Junior guard Krystal Buchanan said the women went through streaks
where they executed their offense well before falling into McNeese’s
style of play.
“We started off executing and doing everything well technically
— everything was going straight,” she said. “Then
McNeese changed the tempo on us, and we started playing their out-of-control
style of game.”
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| Special to The Shorthorn: The Contraband |
| Lady Mavs’ guard Krystal
Buchanan drives the ball down the court against
MSU’s Clarissa Clark in the first half of the game. |
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Buchanan said the game turned back to UTA’s favor midway through
the third quarter when the Lady Mavs started using their own technique
and finishing out the game that way. Buchanan spent the most time
on the court, 39 of the contest’s 40 minutes, scoring 10 points
to go along with four rebounds and four steals.
Senior guard LaToya Lewis led UTA in scoring, collecting 16 points
with 12 of them coming from the 3-point range. Junior forward Rola
Ogunoye finished behind her with 14 points while pulling down eight
rebounds with five on the offensive glass. Sophomore forward Melanie
Lane led all rebounders with nine.
Ogunoye knew rebounding would be big in the game, and it proved
true.
“Rebounding was big tonight and we got the job done,”
she said. “This wasn’t a breakout game for us because
we committed a lot of turnovers, but we ended up with a needed win.”
McNeese’s sophomore forward Regina Spivey came off the bench
to lead all scorers with 21 points and lead the Cowgirls in rebounding
with seven.
Capps said the win was big for the team in two ways.
“Right now, we can control our own destiny in third place,
which is a nice spot for us to be in because we can host a tournament
round,” she said. “It also was big for us to win a game
like this because we know the SFA game is going to be an emotional
and physical contest.”
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