Conference USA basketball: UTEP women get the job done in 63-55 win over FAU

The UTEP women's basketball team has reached the point in the season where all that really matters is winning.

From that perspective, a workmanlike, had-to-have-it 63-55 victory against Florida Atlantic was as pretty as it needed to be to keep the Miners pointed toward a potential postseason.

More:C-USA women's basketball standings

Quoting the team

"I'm proud of our team for simply winning the game," coach Kevin Baker said after his team reached 19-8 and stayed in second place in Conference USA. "I don't think that's the best game we've played all year by any stretch. We impressed with the way we gutted it out.

"Things weren't going our way for a while, we got cold from the outside a little bit so we had to guard differently. It was one of those games we had to figure out a way to win and we did that. I'm proud of them."

The Miners never trailed and twice built leads big enough to absorb extended dry spells. A 16-point first-half lead was cut to five in the third quarter, then an 18-point lead was trimmed to six entering the stretch, but UTEP held FAU at arm's length with its defense.

UTEP shot 37% and missed its last eight 3-point attempts but won because it held the Owls to 41% while winning turnovers 21-8 and points off turnovers 24-4. The Miners took 16 more shots than the Owls.

"We knew from the jump it was one of those games we knew we had to win," said Avery Crouse, who celebrated her senior day with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting with three steals. "Throughout each quarter we had that as a reminder. You could tell in each of our players we weren't going to give up, we weren't going to let them get the W.

"We had that mindset."

Crouse, who started her 108th game at UTEP, has another year of eligibility and said she hasn't made a decision on next season.

How it went

Jazion Jackson said the key was a quick start that saw the Miners grab a 20-5 lead.

"I feel like when we start the game good, when we have momentum coming in, we play that way the entire game," said Jackson, who had nine points, eight rebounds and four steals. "We made a few mistakes but we were able to continue to adjust and put the ball in the basket."

The big adjustment was a defensive one as UTEP switched to a zone in the second half and took advantage of poor FAU outside shooting, as the Owls, the worst 3-point shooting team in C-USA, were 1-of-12.

"They were getting a little momentum because we weren't hitting shots," Baker said. "I looked at the board halfway through the third quarter, they are 0-of-9 from 3, I'm like, 'What are we doing? Let's just survive this and move on."

Survival was a mode UTEP spent some time in. The Miners had a scoring drought of 5:26 in the first half but later built the lead to 36-20. A 14-3 Owl run brought them within 39-34, but then UTEP scored 13 unanswered points in a span of 3:22 to take a 52-34 lead.

FAU answered with a 12-2 charge, but N'yah Boyd's (15 points, five assists) steal and coast-to-coast basket early in the fourth quarter gave the Miners enough momentum to keep FAU from truly joining the battle.

Adhel Tac added 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.

After FAU got within 57-51 with 7:07 to play the Owls missed eight of their next nine shots and turned the ball over four times as the Miners bled the game out.

Baker said he feels UTEP has done enough to earn another home game in the WNIT, "but I'm not on that committee," he said. "It's probably good I'm not."

The Miners certainly gave postseason tournaments something to think about with their 19th victory of the season.

Up next

UTEP starts its final road trip of the season with a Thursday game at Western Kentucky in what will be a battle for second place in C-USA. The 5:30 p.m. Mountain time tip will be streamed on CUSAtv.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP women get the job done in 63-55 win over Florida Atlantic