The SMU women’s basketball team will host the top team in Conference USA, the University of Texas-El Paso Miners. The game will take place tonight in Moody Coliseum at 7.
UTEP moved up in AP polls to No. 29 this past week with a victory over defending conference champ, Tulane.Rising from the No. 30 spot, UTEP racked up 33 points to climb above Georgia Tech in the polls.
The Mustangs host UTEP after falling to Tulsa over the weekend in a 70-68 at-home loss. The defeat dropped them to 4-2 in the conference and 14-4 overall. The loss cost SMU its second-place spot in conference polls, putting them below Tulsa, UAB and Houston.
Falling to Tulsa with only seconds left in the game, the Mustangs continue to struggle in keeping a lead until the final buzzer sounds. Commenting on the team’s struggle to diminish what head coach Rhonda Rompola calls “mental mistakes,” the team has geared practices more toward finishing games in the last minutes rather than letting every lead slip away.
“We’ve been putting ourselves in special situations in practice,” explained Rompola. “It’s more about educating them, more about putting them in situations about who wants the ball at the end of the game in their hands, who wants to take the last shot and who is willing to make that defensive play.”
Going on to say how many players do not want the added pressure of taking the final shot, Rompola continues to look toward the seniors to step up to the challenge. Telling the girls to “not hold back,” Rompola hopes the team’s confidence will continue to grow with each game.
The Miners are currently riding an 11-game winning streak, setting a school record. The Miners have not lost on the road since falling to Kansas on Dec. 1, 2007. UTEP is currently 15-2 overall and holds a perfect 6-0 record in C-USA.
If the Miners continue on with their streak, they have the potential to become the first C-USA team to get through an entire season undefeated.
Working in the Mustangs’ favor is their scoring offense. Averaging 75 points per game, SMU still leads the conference in the category, but UTEP trails close behind with 73.2 points. The Mustangs will have to step it up against the Miners, though, who average a scoring margin of 14.7 points over their opponents.
Senior Katie Gross led the Mustangs against Tulsa, hitting six three-point shots, falling one shot shy of tying the school record. Prior to losing to Tulsa at home, SMU was on a seven-game at-home winning streak.
“We need Katie Gross’ height,” explained Rompola. “She’s done a great job of rotating the help, and defensively, she moves well up and down the floor. We need her to play with confidence like she did in the last game, and shoot the ball.”
