|
Feb. 16, 2009
UTEP junior point guard Jareica Hughes has been selected as the Conference USA Co Women’s Basketball Player of the Week- along with East Carolina’s LaCoya Terry- after helping lead the Miners to a pair of league road wins (69-57 at Rice & 75-72 at Houston). It marks Hughes’ first weekly conference honor this season and the fourth of her illustrious career. She posted a tremendous all-around line of of 24.5 ppg (54.8 field-goal percentage), 7.5 apg, 4.0 spg and 4.0 rpg in the two contests. Against the Owls, Hughes poured in 23 points (7-of-12 from the floor and 8-of-10 at the FT line), while adding eight assists, five steals and four rebounds. Thirteen of those points came in the first half, which helped keep UTEP in the game heading into the break (down 26-23). For en encore, Hughes helped the Miners hand Houston its initial home loss of the year by tallying 26 points (10-of-19 from floor and 5-of-8 at FT) while registering seven assists, three rebounds and three steals. In the first half, Hughes either scored or assisted on 24 of UTEP’s 38 points. She continued to be all over the court in the second half, and came through in the clutch. Hughes buried a jumper in the lane to pad the Miners’ lead to six with only 51 seconds left. She then knocked down two free throws to make it a four-point advantage with 27 seconds left.
Hughes has now posted 10 career games with at least 20 points and seven rebounds. From 1982 to her arrival on campus, six UTEP players achieved the feat a combined nine times. Hughes and the Miners return to action against UCF at 7:05 p.m. at the Don Haskins Center on Thursday. There will be free admission to the game as part of the celebration surrounding National Girls And Women In Sports Day. 
 
|
|
