After trailing by 14 and 16 before launching second-half comebacks in its last two road victories, UTEP didn’t let the third time become the charm Thursday.
Entering the game, the Cougars said keys to victory were to win the rebounding matchup and force turnovers — they succeeded in doing both but still lost 73-55. The Cougars have lost four straight to the Miners dating back to last season and have dropped to 11-14 overall on the season.
Similar to their previous meeting last month, the Miners shot greater than 40 percent from the field, and the Cougars shot below 30.
UH was unable to stop UTEP junior forward Kayla Thornton, as she tied a game high 19 points to compliment her game high 14 rebounds.
Redshirt senior point guard and freshman forward Marche’ Amerson led the Cougars by scoring 14 points each, while junior forward Te’onna Campbell nearly posted a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Despite getting off to a slow start, the Cougars were able to cut the deficit to two when Landry found Campbell down low for a layup, making it 19-17 with 5:18 left in the first half. The Miners countered with a 14-2 run to take a 33-19 lead into halftime.
After being down by as many as 18, junior center Yasmeen Thompson would convert on a layup to cut the score at 54-47 with 9:21 remaining in the second half — the closest the Cougars got to the Miners.
The Miners put the game out of reach for good, as Thornton’s 3-pointer helped extend the lead to 22 with less than two minutes remaining.
UH will look to avenge last month’s lost when it faces the Conference USA leading (20-5) SMU on Sunday— a game in which they coughed up a three-point lead with two minutes remaining.
