Feb. 4, 2010

There were two Great West Conference women's basketball games on Thursday with Texas-Pan American getting a road win at Utah Valley, 71-61, while Houston Baptist fell at Chicago State, 77-49.

Bianca Torre led the Lady Broncs with 23 points in the victory. Also in double figures for UTPA were Marah Guzman with 14 points and Maria Erlingsdottir with 13. Rose Esther Jean led the Lady Broncs on the boards with nine, followed closely by Aleeya Grigsby with eight and Guzman with seven rebounds and five assists.

Julie Smith paced the Wolverines with 27 points, while Jenna Johnson added 14 and Erika Newbold chipped in with eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.

The Wolverines (4-19, 0-6 GWC) pulled within a point on two occasions in the second half on two foul shots by Smith and then a lay-up by Newbold with just over 16 minutes left in the game. UTPA, which joins North Dakota at the top of the GWC leader board with a 4-1 conference record, led by as many as 12 points late the second half.

The game was tied five times and the lead changed hands in the first half. The Lady Broncs, who shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-64) for the game, tied the score at 29-29 at the 3:25 mark and increased their lead to four before leading 35-33 at the break.

Utah Valley shot 38.5 percent for the game and allowed UTPA (8-13, 4-1 GWC) 23 points off turnovers. Texas-Pan American edged UVU on the boards, 39-36.

In Chicago, Tressa Beckel posted a game-high 18 points to lead four Chicago State players in double figures.

Beckel finished the game shooting 7-8 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line in just 14 minutes off the bench. Janay Dockery recorded a career-high 14 points and five assists, while Caila Desroches posted a double-double of 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Desroches also rejected three shots, as did Elana Wroten. Alyssa Waldon completed the double digit scoring with 11 points and had a game-high four steals for the Cougars (9-14, 4-2 GWC).

HBU (3-17, 1-4 GWC) was led by Raquel Jones as she tied with Beckel for game high scoring honors with 18 points. Shirolacille Holloway paced the Huskies in rebounding with seven on the night.

The same four teams will be in action again Saturday with Texas-Pan American traveling to Chicago State and Houston Baptist heading west to Utah Valley.