Jareica Hughes

TULSA, Okla. – Senior Jareica Hughes poured in a season-high-tying 25 points to lead the No. 10 seed UTEP women’s basketball team past seventh-seeded Rice, 62-61, in the opening-round of the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Women’s Basketball Championship at the Donald W. Reynolds Center Monday evening.

The Miners (16-15) advance to the C-USA quarterfinals, and will face second-seed Houston (16-13, 10-6 C-USA) at 7:30 p.m. MT on Tuesday. The Owls, meanwhile, conclude their 2009-10 season at 13-17.

Hughes connected on 9-of-17 shots from the field and 6-of-8 opportunities from the free throw line, but the issue was in doubt to the very end. A foul on Hughes with 1.6 seconds left sent Rice’s D’Frantz Smart to the free-throw line with the Miners clinging to a 62-60 advantage. Smart hit the first shot but misfired on the potential game-tying toss.

The rebound went out-of-bounds to the Owls, who had one more chance with 0.7 seconds remaining. The inbound pass was deflected, and the clock expired with UTEP holding on for the invigorating triumph.

“It was a great win,” UTEP head coach Keitha Adams said. “In our conference, there are going to be a lot of close games. C-USA has a lot of parity. It was a hard-fought game. We played really well the first 10-12 minutes. We got off to a good start and that’s always important. Then we gutted it out and did what we needed to do at the end of the game. I’m really proud of our team.”

While Hughes did the lion’s share of the scoring, there were other standouts for the Orange and Blue. Anete Steinberga and Briana Green pitched in 10 points each, while Kristine Vitola chipped in seven.

Timika Williams showed off her prowess in the rebounding department with 10 boards, while Steinberga and Vitola grabbed six. The effort helped the Miners out-rebound Rice (39-32), and they are now 11-2 on the season when winning the battle of the boards.

Rice had four players post double figures as Smart, Jackie Stanley and Tara Watts each had 14 points while Jessica Goswitz finished with 11. Watts was 4-of-5 from beyond the 3-point arc against the Miners to give her a Rice record 150 for her career, surpassing the former mark of 147 set by Jessica Garcia from 1993-97.

The two teams traded the first 10 points of the game but with the score knotted, UTEP went on an 18-6 surge to take a 12-point lead at 23-11 with 8:35 to play before the break. The Owls cut the lead down to three on a Smart three-pointer, and the Miners went into the locker room at halftime on top, 33-29.

Hughes opened the second half with a jumper before Rice scored the 11 of the game’s next 15 points to take its first lead at 40-39 3:39 into the stanza.

UTEP and Rice traded blows for the next 11-plus minutes and the score was deadlocked at 55-55 with 5:02 remaining in regulation. Hughes hit back-to-back contested jumpers to put her squad up four (59-55) but a Smart lay-up and Watts trey powered a 5-0 counter to afford the Owls a 60-59 advantage.

The Miners regained the lead for good on a Hughes jumper with 57 seconds to go. She then hit a free-throw 35 seconds later to set up the game’s last-second theatrics.