The UTSA Roadrunners women’s basketball team (11-8, 2-4 C-USA) couldn’t stop the powerful offense of the UTEP Miners (15-4, 4-2), losing 67- 56, their fourth loss in Conference USA at the Convocation Center on Saturday, Jan. 25.

Despite the great effort and dynamic game the Roadrun- ners developed, they were un- able to catch the Miners, who took the lead early, and never relinquished it.

“I thought we worked hard, we did some good things, and our passes were effective. De- fensively, we looked good and offensively. When we were ag- gressive and took the ball to the basket, I thought we looked the best,” UTSA head coach Lubo- myr Lichonczak said.

UTEP forward Kayla Thorton brought many problems to the Roadrunners defense and of- fense. Thorton lead the Miners to victory and finished with 21 points, two assists, five offen- sive rebounds, 11 defensive re- bounds and three blocks. Junior Guard Kamra King couldn’t deny the powerful offense of the Miners.

“They were two really good players — number five (Thor- ton) was real strong and aggres- sive—butwehadtobeableto match the intensity every time. If we can be as physical as she is, it will make it a lot easier. If we can take someone like her out of the game it will make it a lot easier to go against players

that are big and aggressive.” With the scoreboard 8-7 after the first seven minutes of the game, none of the teams had complete control of the ball; until the aggressive offense of the Miners led by Kayla Thor- ton took control. The Miners extended their advantage to 21-9 with eight minutes re- maining in the first half. The Roadrunners tried to overcome that advantage, but finished the first half trailing by eight points,

34-26. In the second half, the Road-

runners appeared to be on the right track, when senior guard Miki Turner put the ball in the basket with a jumper to cut the advantage to four points. But once again, the Miners extend- ed the advantage to 12 points led by Thorton and Center Kristine Vitola. Vitola scored an impressive three-pointer to put the score 53-41, diminishing the Roadrunners’ hopes. UTSA was not able to overcome that advantage and finished the game losing by 11 points 67-56 and getting their fourth loss in the C-USA.

Senior guard Kamra King led UTSA with 16 points, two as- sists, one block and three steals. “We played with a lot of heart, we tried hard. We will have one more chance to play against them, and we will know what to expect next time.”

The UTSA women’s basket- ball team will try to return to their winning ways, facing Louisiana Tech (6-13, 1-5 C-USA) on Saturday, Feb. 1, in Ruston, Louisiana.