The Rice Owls held on to beat the UTEP Miners Women’s Basketball team 72-69 Saturday afternoon at the Don Haskins Center.
The Owls started the game on a 5-0 run and they held on to the lead for the entire first half. Rice was sparked in first half by Myra Bokunewicz who had 12 points in the first half and by Malia Fisher’s 10 points.
The Miners would get their first lead of the game with 8:37 left to go in the Third quarter and from that point the game would be tied 9 times and there would be 8 lead changes.
The game came down to the final minute of the game as the Miners were able to cut the Rice lead to 2 points and with 30 seconds left they forced a jump ball and the possession arrow favored UTEP, but on the inbounds play the Miners were called for a back court violation and Rice’s Destiny Jackson made her free throws when she was fouled by the Miners.
The Miners had four players in double figures as Destiny Thurman had 15 points, Elina Arike had 12 points, Katia Gallegos scored 10 and Erin Wilson had a double double as she scored 11 points with 10 rebounds.
The Miners are now 13-8 overall and 5-6 in C-USA play. They have lost their last 3 out of 4 games and they will try to get back on the winning track as they will travel to Ruston Louisiana to take on Louisiana Tech Monday night. Tip off is at 5:30 and you can listen to the game on the free UTEP Miners App. Mando Medina will have the call.