Mustangs Unable To Pull Off Upset At UTEP

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Unable To Pull Off Upset At UTEP
SMU hosts Tulane Sunday in home finale

Feb. 23, 2012

EL PASO, Texas (SMU) - The Mustangs fell 68-50 to UTEP Thursday night as the Miners remained undefeated in Conference USA and claimed the regular season title with the win. UTEP improved to 25-2 overall and 14-0 in conference, while SMU fell to 12-15 and 5-9 in C-USA.

Raven Short and Samantha Mahnesmith led the Mustangs with nine points each, and Akil Simpson scored eight points with a team-high nine rebounds. The Mustangs held UTEP's leading scorer Gloria Brown to just six points, but Erika Warren led the team with 13 and Anete Steinberga added 12 to lead the Miners to the win.

UTEP jumped out to a 10-point lead over the first 10 minutes of the first half, and SMU wasn't able keep the pace offensively. The Miners shot 40.0-percent in the first half to take a 36-21 lead at halftime. SMU scored 29 points in the second half, but couldn't close the gap as UTEP scored 32 points in the final 20 minutues, finishing with a 41.4 shooting percentage for the game. SMU was perfect from the free throw line, making all eight attempts.

The Mustangs return to Moody Coliseum on Sunday as they host Tulane in the home finale at 2 p.m. The seniors will be honored in a pregame ceremony. For tickets or more information, visit www.smumustangs.com.

[Mitch McConnell]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

[PonyKai]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

Shh! The inquisitors will come for you!

[Mitch McConnell]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

Shh! The inquisitors will come for you!

[mustangbill67]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

There are some legitimate excuses for the bad performance this season but you are right that this team needs to show substantial improvement next year, which they should with the new talent coming in. There also needs to be a substantial upgrade in the quality of our committed recruits. I wish Prof X would give us his thoughts on exactly what this program needs to do to get better. Do we need to upgrade our assistant coaches?

[MustangStealth]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

I agree that we need to see improvement, but I think barring a complete collapse next season, Rhonda should get a chance in the Big East. If you look back, she recruited much better players when we were in a strong WAC. If she can step up the recruits again with the BE on the horizon, we'll be fine.

[mustangbill67]

This team is in utter freefall dropping 6 in a row. Rhonda's got some skins on the wall, but I would have to think 2012-13 is going to be an important season for her and her program.

I agree that we need to see improvement, but I think barring a complete collapse next season, Rhonda should get a chance in the Big East. If you look back, she recruited much better players when we were in a strong WAC. If she can step up the recruits again with the BE on the horizon, we'll be fine.

I understand from a reliable source, that we have been in the top three of many of the highest ranked recruits in the DFW area but have lost out to the big national programs. Hopefully this will change quickly. I saw that one of the top recruits in the area signed with UCONN a future conference mate. That in itself shows some Big East interest in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.