UTEP relies on depth to get past Zias

EL PASO, Texas — Texas-El Paso relied on 46 points from its bench to defeat Eastern New Mexico University 91-72 on Sunday in a women’s exhibition basketball matchup.

The Miners led 37-32 late in the first half, but went on an 8-3 run to begin the second half for a 13-point advantage and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Junior post Tiana Bryant scored 20 points for the Zias while sophomore guard Heather Brown scored 11. Also, senior forward Mika Robertson added 10 points with team highs of six rebounds and eight assists, and junior forward Tia Doss tallied 10 points.

“Mika had really been a constant for us this year,” ENMU acting women’s coach Dustin Klafka said. “She’s one of those kids who shows up and you know what you’re going to get from her every day.”

ENMU acting women’s coach Dustin Klafka said the Zias played hard, but UTEP’s depth eventually got the best of them.

“Our main focus going into the game was to compete hard from (the opening) tip to finish, and we did that,” he said. “We played well for about 30 minutes, but there was about a 10-minute stretch in the second half where we had a couple of breakdowns on offense and defense.”

The Zias, who open their regular season next Monday at home against Fort Lewis, shot 50 percent for the game, including 7-of-12 from 3-point range.

UTEP finished at 66 percent (35-of-66) and knocked down 9-of-16 from long range. Erica Yancey came off the bench to lead five Miners in double figures with 15 points.

Klafka said a recent scrimmage against South Plains College showed some defensive shortcomings, but he added that the effort and intensity were better against the Miners.

“Despite the 91 points, I felt we played well defensively,” he said. “They wore us down a little bit.”

Texas-El Paso 91, ENMU 62

Eastern New Mexico — Tia Doss 4-4 2-5 10, Mika Robertson 3-10 2-2 10, Tiana Bryant 9-18 0-1 20, Heather Brown 3-5 3-4 11, Laci Lee 1-5 4-4 7, Rikka Lehtonen 2-4 2-3 6, Casey Rodriguez 3-4 2-3 8, Ashley Davidson 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Golden 0-0 0-0 0, Dynesha Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-50 15-22 72.

Texas-El Paso — Kasia Krenzel 5-13 1-1 12, Charnette Phelps 5-10 2-2 12, marta Dydek 5-7 0-0 10, Launiainen 2-4 1-2 6, Angie McGee 2-3 0-0 5, Shalana Taylor 1-3 0-0 3, Niki Avery 1-1 2-2 5, Kelly Hughes 0-2 0-0 0, Izabela Piekarska 5-7 0-2 11, Stephanie Rayos 2-5 2-2 6, Monika Carrasco 0-1 0-2 0, Dana Penno 0-0 0-0 0, Erica Yancey 4-7 4-5 15, Ingrid Goslin 3-3 0-2 6. Totals 35-66 12-20 91.

Halftime — Texas-El Paso 40, ENMU 32. 3-pointers — ENMU 7-12 (Brown 2-3, Bryant 2-3, Robertson 2-4, Lee 1-2), Texas-El Paso 9-16 (Yancey 3-4, Avery 1-1, McGee 1-1, Piekarska 1-1, Taylor 1-1, Launiainen 1-2, Krezel 1-6). Rebounds — ENMU 29 (Robertson 6), Texas-El Paso 36 (Phelps 7). Assists — ENMU 16 (Robertson 8), Texas-El Paso 26 (Taylor 6). Total fouls — ENMU 19, Texas-El Paso 22. Fouled out — Doss. A —n/a.