UTEP women's basketball swept vs. Rice, men split against Owls

EL PASO, TX -- This weekend, the UTEP men's and women's basketball teams featured both a change of fortunes and more of the same.

For the women's team, their road test at the defending Conference USA Champion Rice Owls proved to be their most difficult of the season thus far as the Miners dropped both of their games in Houston 74-68 and 55-43.

While the Miners were close in both games during certain stretches, the Owls exploited the paint in both games thanks to the nation's tallest female basketball player: 6-foot-9 center Nancy Mulkey. Mulkey (22 points) contributed to 66 combined points in the painted area for the Owls, while UTEP scored 52. Mulkey's main contribution, however, was on the defensive end as she blocked 12 shots during the series (most in Conference USA).

For the Miners, it was a tale of two games: on Friday Aline Arike and Destiny Thurman combined for 13-for-26 from the field for 29 points, while Katia Gallegos shot just 3-for-15 with 9 points. But on Saturday, Gallegos and Isis Lopes combined for 9-for-19 for 25 points, while the rest of the team hit only 7 of their 41 shots (17%) from the field.

The Miners--now 2-2 in C-USA play--will come back to El Paso this upcoming weekend to host North Texas at the Don Haskins Center on Friday night.

In the meantime, the men's team saw more of the same from their first weekend of conference play, splitting their home matchups against rice with a 101-89 win on Friday and a 71-68 loss on Saturday.

On Friday, the game was more like a track meet from the Don Haskins Center as UTEP eclipsed the century mark for the second time this season thanks to a season-high 55 points in the first half. Jamal Bieniemy exploded in the first half, putting up 18 points before ending the game with 24. Meanwhile, Bryson Williams (29 points) and Keonte Kennedy (22) led the way as the Miners shot over 50 percent from the field.

In the second game, however, the scoring simmered as UTEP ended the first half with just 34 points. Although Bieniemy (16) and Williams continued (13) their impressive scoring performances, the rest of the team struggled to hit their shots. Souley Boum and Keonte Kennedy combined for just 5-23 (21.7%) from the floor. On the other side, Travis Evee had himself another impressive offensive performance, hitting 7-of-13 for 21 points, including 5 three-pointers. Evee and forward Max Fiedler scored a combined 83 points throughout the series, hitting 32 of their 50 shots.

The lack of offensive efficiency from UTEP on Saturday, combined with 22 personal foul calls, gave Rice a valuable win in the C-USA standings. The Miners, now 2-2 in conference play, will visit North Texas this Friday at 6:00 pm.

Want to watch the game? The game will be broadcasted LIVE on CBS 4.2 or on Spectrum Channel 1215.