SMU Upsets UTEP in C-USA Title Game

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ORLANDO — Brittany Gilliam scored 20 points and Sharee Shepherd added 17 as Southern Methodist upset No. 18 UTEP 73-57 to win the Conference USA tournament.

The victory sends SMU to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000.

UTEP watched the nation's longest winning streak end at 23 games, but the Miners are still likely to receive their first bid to the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection.

Izabela Piekarska led UTEP (27-3) with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Jareica Hughes added 19 points and Natasha Lacy had 15.

Katy Cobb scored 11 points, and Janielle Dodds had 10 points and 11 rebounds for SMU (24-8), which hit 22 of 23 free throws in the final five minutes to close out UTEP.

UTEP had trailed 30-20 early in the second half, but scored 18 straight points to go ahead 38-30. Lacy had seven points during that stretch and Hughes contributed five points and a pair of assists.

But SMU responded with a 17-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Cobb that made it 47-38 with 6:18 left in the game. The Mustangs held on, thanks to solid free-throw shooting that included 15 straight at one point.

Piekarska was going virtually 1-on-5 in the first half, when she scored 15 of the Miners' 20 points. She was 6-of-11 from the field while her teammates were a combined 1-of-14.

SMU, meanwhile, spread its scoring among seven players, but blew several chances to open up big leads on UTEP. The Mustangs led by as many as nine points, but missed six wide-open layups and several more shots from point-blank range.

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