Box score

EDINBURG, TX—Bianca Torre's game-high 20 points led four double-figure scorers for Texas-Pan American, as the Broncs defeated visiting NJIT, 72-53, in Great West Conference women's basketball Saturday evening.

 

Torre, a quick sophomore guard, was followed in the scoring by Erin Lewis, with 14 points, while Adanna Opara produced 12 points and 7 rebounds off the bench and Ce'Monay Newell added 10 points off the bench for the Broncs, who are 11-17 overall and 3-7 in the Great West Conference.

 

Saturday's result gives NJIT and Texas-Pan American a split of their home-and-home conference series. NJIT won the conference opener from UTPA, 68-60 on January 12 in Newark. The Broncs, who are 8-2 in Edinburg earned the split with Saturday's victory.

 

NJIT (7-16 overall, 3-5 Great West) got 14 points from sophomore Rayven Johnson and 12 from senior Jessica Gerald, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games with an injury.

 

Johnson and Gerald were the only double-figure scorers for the Highlanders, but senior Ivana Seric and freshman Uju Nwankwo each reached double-figures in rebounds, with 10 apiece, as NJIT controlled the boards, 54-37. Nwankwo and Kimberly Dweck each scored 9 points and Johnson finished the game with 9 rebounds.

 

Torre scored 14 and Lewis, a junior guard, scored 10 points in the first half, as the Broncs built a 39-30 lead through the opening 20 minutes. Johnson led NJIT at the break with 8 points, while Gerald, Dweck and Nwankwo all collected 6 points apiece.

 

NJIT managed to stay reasonably close in the first half with a 25-11 rebounding advantage and 10-for-12 shooting at the foul line.

 

The rebounding in the second half was much closer (29-26, NJIT), but the Highlanders' shooting fell off in all areas to 7-for-30 from the floor (23.3 percent), including 2-for-13 on 3-pointers, and 7-for-15 (46.7 percent) at the foul line.

 

Meanwhile, UTPA also shot poorly from the field in the second half (7-27; 25.9 percent), but the Broncs added to their lead with 18-for-22 shooting from the charity stripe, for an overall second-half scoring advantage of 33-23.

 

The two glaring scoring statistics that favored the Broncs were points-off-of-turnovers, where they outscored NJIT, 23-4, and bench scoring, where UTPA won, 27-2.

 

The only NJIT reserve to score was freshman walk-on Marcy Williams, who made one basket. Williams, who has been practicing, but did not join the active playing roster until February 10, made her debut on that day against North Dakota.

 

She was scoreless in her first two games, but collected 6 points at Houston Baptist Thursday night and grabbed 7 rebounds in 11 minutes against Texas-Pan American. Williams, who has played in four games, has 14 rebounds in just 60 minutes of playing time since joining the active roster.

 

NJIT opened the game with a 6-2 lead and the Highlanders were still tied at 26 when Dweck hit a jumper with 5:16 left in the opening half. But Texas-Pan American scored 13 of the next 15 points and never trailed again.

 

Neither team scored in the second half until Dweck made the first of two free throws with 16:39 remaining and when the NJIT point guard scored a layup 11 seconds later, the deficit was down to 39-33.

 

UTPA pushed its lead back to nine by making 5-of-6 foul shots in a span 1:24, but the Highlanders clawed back again.

 

Down, 44-35, NJIT put up seven straight points, starting with a layup for Seric and continuing with a trey by Gerald and finally a layup for Nwankwo that trimmed the deficit to two with 11:19 left.

 

The Broncs went on a 5-0 run of their own, but Johnson made a layup and then when Gerald drained another three for the Highlanders, they trailed 49-47 with 10:04 left.

 

But the home team followed with a 10-0 outburst and NJIT, playing its second game in three days in Texas, had no comebacks left against a well-rested Texas-Pan American team that had not played since the previous Saturday.

 

NJIT, which has lost its last four games, will continue conference play with another long and difficult trip to the Dakotas. The Highlanders will visit South Dakota for a 6 pm (CST) game on Thursday and then play on Saturday at North Dakota in an 11 am (CST) tilt on Saturday.