Miners cruise past Zias 79-48

Freedom New Mexico

EL PASO — Texas-El Paso scored the game’s first seven points and never looked back en route to a 79-48 victory over Eastern New Mexico University’s women on Saturday night.

The Division I Miners (2-1), members of Conference USA, put 10 players between four and 12 points, led by forward Anete Steinberga and reserve Kelli Willingham. UTEP also got 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench from Gloria Brown.

Junior forward Precious Herrin led the Zias (0-2) with 14 points. Senior guard Cat Clay, meantime, finished with eight points and six rebounds and moved into 13th place on the school’s all-time scoring list with 926 points, one ahead of Leslie Shippy.

Trailing 29-14, the Zias got a basket from Herrin and four points from junior guard Kiara Tate to cut the margin to 29-20 with 2:10 left in the opening half. But the Miners took control at that point, outscoring ENMU 8-2 the rest of the period and adding the first nine points of the second half for a 46-22 lead with 17 minutes left.

Tate finished with a team-high five assists, while Herrin blocked a pair of shots. The Zias, though, were held to 28 percent field goal shooting (14-of-50) and committed 20 turnovers.

ENMU returns to action on Saturday with a 4 p.m. tipoff against New Mexico Highlands at Greyhound Arena.