In order to beat North Texas without a concussed N'Yah Boyd, the UTEP women's basketball team needed to play inspired defense, take care of the basketball and box out.
They didn't check the first two boxes until they were 15 points behind with 10:05 to play and a failure to take care of the defensive glass blunted an inspired comeback attempt. That added up to a 74-71 loss that dropped the Miners (13-6 overall, 6-4 in Conference USA) out of second place.
UTEP did have a prayer at the buzzer, but Elina Arike's long desperation 3-pointer was blocked and a Miners team that trailed the last 37:15 absorbed an upset loss they couldn't much afford.