SMU’s LaShandra Hill makes a break for the basket against the University of Houston. (Lindsey Perkins)

The SMU women’s basketball team fell to the No. 1 team in Conference USA, the University of Texas El Paso, Thursday night in a 76-63 loss.

The much anticipated game between the two best teams in C-USA ended the Mustangs’ seven-game winning streak. SMU still holds on to the second-place seed prior to heading into the Conference USA Women’s Basketball Championship at the beginning of March.

SMU is 21-7 overall and 11-4 in Conference USA, while UTEP improved to 24-2 overall and 15-0 in the conference.

The Mustangs secured the No. 2 seed in the conference after defeating the University of Houston last weekend in Moody to give the team its 21st win during the regular season. Saturday’s victory also gave the team the honor of winning the most games during the regular season. The Mustangs need just one more win to tie the record for most wins at SMU.

Senior Janielle Dodds almost made history of her own, leading the Mustangs with 11 points and seven rebounds to come within just three points of breaking Karlin Kennedy’s records for most career points and rebounds at SMU in Saturday’s game.

The game opened with back-to-back threes, with sophomore Jillian Samuels draining a three pointer after a pass from teammate Delisha Wills. UTEP’s Kasia Krezel came right back at the Mustangs, shooting a three pointer just 20 seconds later. Gathering another three pointer from senior Katie Cobb, SMU’s offense was shortly shut down as the Miners took off on a two-minute and seven-point scoring run before SMU slowly started to come back into the game.

SMU inched closer to the Miners’ lead, but UTEP’s lack of missed shots combined with the Mustangs’ missed free throws and surrendered rebounds let UTEP climb into an early and dominant lead for the entire first half.

Up by as many as 15 points with six minutes remaining until halftime, the Mustangs stepped up their defense, pulling down four rebounds in just one minute to slowly narrow the space between the scores.

SMU finished out the half going on a 10-point run with 3:56 to ring in the final buzzer with a 34-37 score in UTEP’s favor.

While the Mustangs shot only 38.7 percent from the line, they managed to shoot 4-9 from behind the arc and went 60 percent from the line. SMU pulled down 21 rebounds in the first half, compared to UTEP’s 17. The Miners faired a little better in field goals, averaging an even 50 percent, but shot only 2-11 in threes.

Sophomore Brittany Gilliam led her team in the first half with nine points and four rebounds to put her team within three points of the Miners at the final buzzer before halftime.

Samuels started the second half of the game with another three to tie the game at 37-37. Dodds, who had trouble in the first half, and Gilliam helped their team during a struggle between several ties to gain the lead. The score switched back and forth three more times in the last seven minutes until UTEP’s defense kept the Mustangs at 63 points with 4:24 still remaining.

Riding a 13-point scoring run, UTEP captured the win with SMU missing all seven of its final shots.

The Mustangs answered back to tie the game for the last time at 58-58 with a jump shot by senior Sharee Shepherd.

A three pointer from freshman LaShandra Hill put the Mustangs up 48-43, followed by another three from Samuels to keep SMU just above UTEP’s point total.

UTEP had three players hit double-digit scores. Jareica Hughes hit a game-high 22 points, while teammate Natasha Lacy finished the night with 21 points, followed by Timika Williams with 12.

The Mustangs’ final game of the regular season will take place Saturday evening against reigning C-USA champion, Tulane. Tulane is currently 5-10 in the conference, holding down the No. 10 spot for the conference championship.

The Green Wave have won two of their three conference victories at home. Tulane defeated Tulsa on Thursday night in an 80-60 victory. The win was the Green Wave’s first win in the last three games.

Saturday’s game is scheduled for 5 p.m. and can be seen on CSTV.