GUNNISON, Colorado (November 11, 2022) – In their season opener, the Texas Woman's basketball team rose to the occasion (7,723 feet to be exact) to secure the win over Western Colorado, 57-55, on Friday night.
TWU (1-0) survived a late fourth quarter push from Western Colorado (0-1) on their home court in Paul Wright Gym, the gym located at the highest elevation in the world, to secure the win.
In the opening quarter, the Pioneers found their footing three minutes into the quarter and blasted ahead from there at lightning speed.
Ngozi Obineke started off the scoring for the Pioneers with two made free throws, which ignited a 15-4 run in the first quarter of action.
In their meeting last season, TWU held the Mountaineers to just six points in the first quarter. Tonight, they bested their previous mark, holding Western Colorado to just four points in the quarter.
While the first quarter was all Pioneers, the home crowd cheered the Mountaineers onto a 19-point second quarter, while TWU maintained consistenty and scored 15 points in the first and 15 points in the second.
The Pioneers went into the locker room at halftime with a 30-23 lead.
Defensively, TWU worked to limit the scoring and second chance opportunities of the Mountaineers in the third quarter. Offensively, the Pioneers attacked the paint, which opened the chance to connect on outside shots.
In the third quarter,
Sadie Moyer and
Scout Huffman each drained a three pointer to revitalize the threat from downtown for TWU.
With a 12-point lead heading into the final quarter of action, the comfort of the Pioneers quickly faded away, as the Mountaineers went on a 16-6 run to cut the lead to just two points.
As has been the Pioneers calling card, they persevered and made the right play in the right moment down the stretch of the fourth quarter.
After TWU's lead was cut to just two,
Scout Huffman immediately knocked down an elbow jumper to push the Pioneers' lead back to four.
Then, the Mountaineers scored a layup and a three-pointer to take the lead for the first time in the game.
When a bucket was needed, Huffman again stepped up and hit a jump shot to help the Pioneers reclaim the lead by one, forcing Western Colorado to take a timeout.
On the drawn-up timeout play, the Mountaineers drove to the basket off balance and ran into
Ariyanna Hines, who stepped up and took the charge, which effectively changed the momentum and decided the game.
A free throw by
Jada Celsur, who finished with a career high three points and four rebounds, sealed the win for the Pioneers.
Despite the Mountaineers attempting to mount the comeback, due in large part to 17 offensive rebounds, the Pioneers stepped up, defended and knocked down shots in clutch situations to win the game 57-55.
The Pioneers boasted a diversified slate of scorers in tonight's game. Moyer led the Pioneers with 14 points, followed by Huffman with 13 points and Obineke with 10.
Ashley Ingram added eight points, Hines scored five,
Keslyn King hit four points and Celsur closed with three.
Moyer, Obineke and Celsur all grabbed four rebounds apiece. Hines dished out the most assists (three), and Huffman grabbed the most steals (three). Obineke, Huffman, Keslyn and Ingram each recorded one block.
Grace Lowery also made an impact in her collegiate debut, dishing out her first career assist tonight in four minutes of action.
"We made big plays down the stretch, which helped lead to the win tonight," TWU Head Coach
Beth Jillson said. "Against an energetic home crowd, our team really locked into each other, which helped us stay calm during their final push. Scout hitting those two shots at the end, and Ariyanna taking the charge shows the strength this team has to rise to the occasion and take advantage of the moment."
The Pioneers are back in action tomorrow night in the Conference Challenge in Gunnison, Colorado. They will face Metropolitan State University – Denver, who lost tonight to Angelo State, at 6 p.m. EST.
-PIONEERS-
