Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
UTEP
Thundering Herd Thumps League-Leading UTEP, 79-64
2/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
Daniel Press Conference
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall senior Leah Scott tied a career-high with 26 points in a double-double effort that included 11 rebounds to lead the Thundering Herd women's basketball team to a convincing 79-64 win over Conference USA leader UTEP Thursday evening in the Henderson Center.
Marshall improved to 15-6 overall with the win and evened its league mark at 5-5, while the Miners, who came into the game receiving 29 points in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll, fell to 18-2 and 9-1 in the league.
The Thundering Herd's Talequia Hamilton made six of her eight field goal attempts in a 15-point effort with three blocked shots, a number that was matched by Chelsey Romero. Shayna Gore added 14 points and a game-high six assists and Kiana Evans notched 12 points off the bench, making six of her 10 field goal attempts.
UTEP was led by Sparkle Taylor's 17 points (8-for-16 FGs) off the bench. Jenzel Nash ended up with a double-double (14 points, 12 rebounds) to go with four steals and Lulu McKinney also had 10 points. Starr Breedlove had four assists and four steals but she and Nash were limited to an 8-for-36 shooting day (1-for-13 on 3-pointers) by the Thundering Herd defense.
Marshall outrebounded UTEP 50-42 and held a commanding 48-30 edge on points in the paint. UTEP, who came in averaging nearly 12 steals a game, had 13 Thursday, including nine in the second half during the Miners' comeback bid.
The Thundering Herd raced out to score 22 points in the first quarter on 10-for-17 (58.8%) shooting and held UTEP to 13 points on 4-for-15 (26.7%) from the field.
The lead grew to as many as 24 (46-22) on a Hamilton layup with 8:25 left in the third quarter, a play that saw UTEP coach Keitha Adams burn a timeout to stem the tide.
It worked.
UTEP ripped off a 28-8 run over the game's next nine minutes to cut Marshall's lead to 54-50 on a Taylor jumper at the 9:24 mark. That is as close as it got, however, because Marshall responded to a Camesha Turner 3-pointer with two layups by Scott sandwiched around an Evans layup to push the advantage back out to double digits at 64-53 with 6:34 left.
The Thundering Herd put the game away at the free throw line, making seven of eight in the last two minutes for the final margin.
"It was a great team win," said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. "We were resilient, and I'm really excited for our team. We kept them off the free throw line and worked well on the glass. UTEP started playing frantic, and we did not play with cool heads, and cool heads win hot games. We settled in, though, and got through their pressure and into their legs. We were able to close out a big game.
"Now it's important not to have a hangover Saturday against UTSA."
The Thundering Herd welcomes the aforementioned Roadrunners (7-12, 3-6) to Huntington Saturday at 1 p.m.
