Jan. 10, 2004
Box Score
ARLINGTON, Texas - Sheena Johnson scored 10 of her 11 points in the second half and Texas-Arlington withstood a strong Texas-San Antonio charge to defeat the Roadrunners 55-47 in front of 537 fans Saturday afternoon at Texas Hall.
The Lady Mavs (7-7, 1-1) rebounded from a loss in the conference opener on 'Wednesday to force 11 turnovers in the first in opening up a 26-16 lead at recess.
The first half did not have much of a flow as after Katie Sandefour in the game's first minute, UTA countered with a pair of baskets to hold a 4-3 lead with 17:07 to play in the half. The game's next 4:04 went without a point being scored as the two team's combined to go 0-for-10 before Tojjinay Thompson ended the drought with a three-pointer, extending UTA's stretch to 58 straight games with a triple.
UTA would get a pair of free throws from Rola Ogunoye and a three-pointer from Krystal Buchanan to open up a nine-point lead before the 'Runners connected on their second field goal of the game with 10:24 on the clock.
The Lady Mavs rode the back of point guard Buchanan as she was honored before the game for breaking the school assist record on Wednesday and proceeded to scored 12 points in the half, including a pair of free throws with only five seconds remaining to push the lead back to 10 at the half.
UTA would push its lead to 14-points in the first three minutes of the second stanza as Ogunoye connected on a pair of field goals for a 30-16 lead.
UTSA (4-8, 0-1) would climb back into the game behind the shooting of Nikki Hendrix and Dewella Holliday as the two combined to score 36 of the teams 47 points.
After a Hendrix layup trimmed the lead to 34-31, Johnson and Tamesha Graves connected on back-to-back three-point plays to open the lead back up to eight points.
Holliday would nail a trifecta to cut the lead to six points. On the ensuing possession, the Lady Mavs would lose Buchanan for the rest of the game as she came down awkwardly on a three-point attempt and sprained her ankle.
Instead of rolling over, freshman guard Terra Wallace picked up the scoring slack and helped push the lead back to as many as 11-points on an Ogunoye free throw with 1:26 to play.
A three-pointer by Kim Reed followed immediately by a Reed three-point play cut the advantage to just five points in the game's final minute. A free throw by Johnson and a pair by Wallace would close out the scoring.
Buchanan led the way with 12 points, while Johnson and Ogunoye each had 11 and Wallace chipped in with 10. Despite scoring only one point, LaToya Lewis had a team-high eight rebounds and seven assists.
For the game, the Lady Mavs shot only 17-for-52 (.327) from the floor, but countered that by going 18-for-23 (.783) from the charity stripe.
The 'Runners were led by Holliday's 19 points and Hendrix' 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lady Mavs return to action on Thursday evening when they travel to San Marcos for their first road conference game against the preseason favorite Texas State. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Strahan Coliseum.
