NJIT rallies to beat UTPA
EDINBURG – The NJIT’s women’s basketball team’s rally to beat UTPA 41-40 on Saturday at the UTPA Field House had Broncs coach Denny Downing bewildered by his team’s lack of confidence.
“We act like we are unsure of what we are trying to do,” said Downing, whose team is 8-12 overall and 1-1 in the Great West Conference.
Downing also said his team played unsure of itself in a win over Chicago State on Thursday.
“I don’t know if it was that two-week layoff and couldn’t find that rhythm that we had,” Downing said. “We did pretty well there for the first five minutes of the first half. Give (NJIT) a lot of credit, they hung around.”
NJIT (8-11, 2-0) trailed by as much as 16 twice in the first half and was behind 45-40 after UTPA’s Bianca Torre (14 points) hit a consecutive 3-pointer with 4:18 left in the game. Those were the last points UTPA scored.
Layups by Nicole Maticka, Melanie Griffin and Kimberly Dweck in the final 1:14 pulled NJIT ahead 41-40. UTPA’s Donna Jackson had a wide-open, 4-foot shot at the buzzer but missed.
It was the second consecutive game NJIT needed a rally to win. The Highlanders trailed by 12 in the first half against Houston Baptist on Thursday.
“I just thought we came out flat in the first half and on our heels today,” NJIT coach Margaret McKeon said. “I kept telling them, our defense was going to keep them in the game.”
UTPA scored only 14 points in the second half and was 2 for 13 from the free throw line.
“You don’t win in conference if you do that,” Downing said. “I told them at halftime if we get 50 percent (free throws), we win the game.”
Peter Rasmussen covers UTPA athletics for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448 or via email at prasmussen@themonitor.com.
Follow Peter Rasmussen on Twitter @parasmuss
