UTEP Women's Basketball Notes / Game Five / NM State

GAME NOTES IN PDF FORMAT

THE OPENING TIP

The UTEP women's basketball team (3-1) will take part in its second rivalry game of the week by challenging I-10 rival NM State (1-4) at the Don Haskins Center at 7 p.m. MT Saturday. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for kids and may be purchased by calling (915) 747-5234. The Miners were handed their first loss of the season, 93-78, by New Mexico on Nov. 19. The Aggies enter on a three-game skid, including being clipped, 72-69, by Pepperdine on Nov. 20. The contest is the third of seven straight at home (1-1 in stretch) for the Miners. The game will be streamed on CUSA.TV (subscription based) and broadcast locally on 600 ESPN El Paso with Duke Keithand Traci Miller on the call.

HE SAID IT (COACH BAKER ON NM STATE)

"When we play New Mexico State it is always a good, competitive game. This Saturday at 7 p.m. will be no different. I love watching our team compete, and this will be another challenging game for us. Our team seems to improve every time we step on the floor, and we hope to do the same in this contest."

GAME FORMAT

NCAA women's basketball games are played in four 10-minute quarters. Teams reach the bonus and shoot two free throws on the fifth team foul in each quarter. In the four-quarter format, team fouls reset to zero at the start of each frame. Teams have four timeouts (three 30s, one 60), three of which carry over to the second half. They will be able to advance the ball to the frontcourt after a timeout with less than 59.9 seconds in 4Q. There are seven media timeouts (four under five minutes in quarter/first called), two intermission media timeouts (after first and third quarters) and the first team-called timeout during the second half. Bands or amplified music may play during any dead ball.

GET TO KNOW NM STATE (1-4 OVERALL; 0-4 HOME; 1-0 ROAD)

NM State is in the midst of a three-game losing streak and stands 1-4 overall on the season. It sustained a 86-67 setback to New Mexico (11/17), but the other three losses have been by a combined 11 points. The Aggies are led by WAC Preseason Player of the Year Gia Pack, who was a first-team All-WAC honoree as both a sophomore and junior. Pack is putting up 15.4 points per game (fifth WAC/213th NCAA) to go along with 7.6 rebounds per contest (second WAC/218th NCAA). The top scorer has been Aaliyah Prince, who is pouring in 19.0 ppg (second WAC/68th NCAA). Prince has also terrorized the opposition with 2.6 steals per game (first WAC/114th NCAA). The team rates in the WAC leaders and among the top-100 nationally for total steals (52-first/29th), free throws made (65-fourth/48th), free-throw percentage (75.6-second/48th), steals per game (10.4-first/79th), total rebounds (179-third/81st) and free throw attempts (86-fourth/87th). NM State returned two starters and four letter winners overall from last year's team (26-7, 15-1 WAC) that competed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies have won five consecutive WAC regular-season championships, in addition to claiming four WAC tournament crowns in the past five years. New Mexico State is a major university in Las Cruces, N.M., which was founded in 1888 under the name of Las Cruces College. Notable alumni include actor Scott Bailey, who is best known for his playing the role of Sandy Foster on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light, and former Olympic basketball player Chito Reyes. Additionally, Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the planet Pluto (since reclassified to a dwarf planet), taught astronomy at the school from 1955 until his retirement in 1973.

THE SERIES (NM STATE LEADS, 50-38 OVERALL; UTEP LEADS, 26-19 IN EL PASO)

NM State leads the longest running series in program history, 50-38, but the Miners are 16-8 against the Aggies dating to the 2005-06 season. UTEP picked up its first win in the Pan-American Center in four years by toppling the Aggies, 63-57, on Nov. 23. It also snapped a three-game winning streak in the series by NM State. UTEP is 26-19 against the Aggies when playing in El Paso. The rivals squared off at least twice every year from the inception of UTEP's program (1974-75) through 2013-14 before five straight years with just one meeting. The home-and-home series has returned this season, with UTEP taking aiming at sweeping the series for the seventh time in program history.

LAST MEETING WITH NM STATE: UTEP 63, AT NM STATE 57, 11/13/19)

Senior Katarina Zec scored 17 points, including a go-ahead three pointer with two minutes to play in the game, to help lift UTEP to a 63-57 win at I-10 rival NM State on Nov. 9. The effort secured the Miners' third straight 2-0 start under head coach Kevin Baker. Furthermore, they picked up their first road win against the Aggies since 2015-16. Junior transfer Michelle Pruitt (14 points) and freshman Katia Gallegos (13 points) joined Zec in double figures for scoring, while senior Ariona Gill pitched in seven points to go along with a team-best eight rebounds.Ariana Taylor came off the bench to score nine points, in addition to setting up Zec's clutch trey. It was a back-and-forth game with 12 ties and 19 lead changes, with the final change coming down the stretch. NM State led by two (57-55) with 3:24 to play, but UTEP closed the game on a 6-0 push to stay perfect on the young season. Zec provided the go-ahead score with a knockdown triple off a cross-court pass by Taylor.

GOING BACK IN TIME (NEW MEXICO 93, AT UTEP 78, 11/19/19)

UTEP put up 78 points while shooting 49 percent from the floor, but it wasn't enough to keep up with high-octane New Mexico in a 93-78 setback at the Don Haskins Center on Nov. 19. Nearly 1,500 fans, most of them young students, made for an entertaining atmosphere on the Miners' "Education Day" game, but the Lobos emerged victorious in a battle of unbeatens. Katarina Zec (16 points), Tatyana Modawar (career-high 12 points) and Katia Gallegos (10 points) all hit double figures in scoring for UTEP. Ariona Gill flirted with a double-double (eight points, 10 rebounds) while Avery Crouse netted nine and Ariana Taylor chipped in seven points. UNM relied on a barrage of 3-pointers (12-29), an extremely good day at the line (17-19) and winning the boards (41-30) to outlast the Miners. The Lobos had a 24-14 margin on second-chance points while also holding advantages for points in the paint (38-28) and fastbreak points (34-12). UTEP lost for just the second time (14-2) of the Kevin Baker era when scoring at least 70 points.

SHARP SHOOTER

Katarina Zec has come out dialed in from 3-point range in 2019-20. She has drilled 11-17 (64.7 percent-first C-USA/eighth NCAA) of her 3-point attempts, including going 4-4 against UCR (11/9). That effort marked the seventh game in program history that a Miner didn't miss (min. four attempts) on a 3-point toss. Her 2.8 triples per game is sixth in C-USA and 75th in the nation. Overall from the floor Zec has connected on 59.0 percent (third C-USA/63rd NCAA) from the floor. She is also at 84.6 percent (fifth C-USA/125th NCAA) at the charity stripe.

BALANCED SCORING

Katarina Zec (17.0 ppg-fifth C-USA/126th NCAA) is the lone Miner in double figures for scoring, but she is not the only capable scorer on the roster. Six other players are pitching in at least 5.0 ppg. They are in the form of Michelle Pruitt (9.8 ppg), Katia Gallegos (9.0 ppg), Ariana Taylor (8.3 ppg), Ariona Gill (7.8 ppg), Avery Crouse (6.3 ppg) and DejaNae Roebuck (5.0 ppg). The effort has resulted in UTEP accounting for 74.0 points per game (fifth C-USA/96th NCAA).

TEAM EFFORT ON THE BOARDS

UTEP has a +2.0 rebounding margin (38.5-36.5), and it has been a team effort on the glass.Ariona Gill (7.3 ppg) leads the way, followed by Katarina Zec (5.5 rpg) and Michelle Pruitt (4.8 rpg). Pruitt has more offensive (10) rebounds than defensive (nine).

GIVE ME THAT BALL

UTEP's pressure defense has given the opposition fits, with foes making 20.8 turnovers per contest (third C-USA/63rd NCAA). Both UC-Riverside (11/9) and Alcorn State (11/16) had 28 giveaways. Katia Gallegos (2.0 spg) is leading the charge for the unit.

LOVE ME SOME FREE THROWS

UTEP has done plenty of work at the charity stripe early on in the year. The Miners lead the league and rank in the top-40 nationally for both free throws attempted (105-24th) and free throws made (68-39th).

GETTING TO KNOW THE 2019-20 MINERS

The Miners returned three starters and seven letter winners from a year ago, including senior guard/forward Katarina Zec (10.1 ppg/4.4 rpg/1.9 apg), senior guard/forward Ariona Gill (8.7 ppg/4.4 rpg), sophomore forward Ariana Taylor (5.9 ppg), senior guard/forward Jade Rochelle (4.0 ppg/4.7 rpg), senior guard Neidy Ocuane (4.0 ppg/1.8 apg) and sophomore guard Sabine Lipe (3.2 ppg and 2.3 rpg). UTEP brought in seven newcomers (junior college transfers Tia Bradshaw, Michelle Pruitt and DejaNae Roebuck, and freshmen Avery Crouse, Katia Gallegos, Arina Khlopkova and Tatyana Modawar) to bolster the unit. The group features three top-100 JUCO players, including two All-Americans, and four high school standouts that produced a combined record of 105-27 at their respective schools. The squad is under the direction of third-year head coach Kevin Baker, who is assisted by Todd Buchanan, Anthony Anderson and Heather Karner.

THE BAKER FILE (OVERALL: 373-168, COLLEGE: 151-67, UTEP: 29-37)

Kevin Baker is 29-37 in his third year at the helm of the UTEP women's basketball team, including 3-1 this year. He registered the most wins (26) by any Miner coach through their first two years in program history, including setting the school standard for victories (17) in a debut season in 2017-18. The Miners have also won a game in back-to-back C-USA tournaments for the first time since a five-year stretch (2010-14). He is in his 18th year overall (373-168) as a head coach, including his eighth season (151-67) as a college head coach. He has a unique background which has seen him rise through the coaching ranks from the high school level, to NCAA Division III, then NCAA Division II and now his NCAA Division I position at UTEP. He has set school records for wins at every previous stop of his career, and has taken every prior school to the postseason with a total of five district championships. He is an eight-time Coach of the Year. In his most-recent posts prior to UTEP, Baker's teams captured back-to-back conference championships at UT-Tyler and Angelo State. Baker led both a Division II (Angelo State) and Division III (UT-Tyler) school to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

WINNING NUMBERS UNDER BAKER

The Miners are 14-2 (1-1 this year) when scoring 70+ points under Kevin Baker. Other notable records in the Baker era include being 16-6 (3-0 this season) when allowing less than 60 points, 12-5 (0-1 this season) when drilling better than 40 percent from 3-point range (min. four makes), 12-4 (1-0 this year) when shooting at least 50 percent from the floor, 21-8 (2-0 this year) when holding the opponent to below 40.0 percent from the floor, 21-8 (3-0 this year) when leading after three quarters and 21-10 (3-0 this season) when up at the half.

BASIC FACTS ON UTEP

UTEP is 576-685 in its 46th season as a women's basketball program, including standing 3-1 this year. The Miners have made four postseason bids (2016,-WNIT quarterfinals; 2014-WNIT runner-up, 2012-NCAA first round and 2008-NCAA second round), sporting a combined record of 9-4 (8-2 WNIT, 1-2 NCAA). UTEP has claimed four league championships (2016 C-USA regular season, 2012 C-USA regular season and conference tournament and 2008 C-USA regular season). It has a 1-1 record all time in league tournament title games, cutting down the nets in 2012 and falling in 2008. There have been six 20+ win seasons (all since 2006-07), UTEP has cracked the top-25 poll in two seasons (2015-16, 2007-08), including being ranked in the final six weeks in '07-08, while receiving votes in seven campaigns total ('15-16, '13-14, '12-13, '11-12, '08-09, '07-08 and '06-07). The Miners have been mentioned in the AP Preseason Poll four times (most recent 2016-17). In 2008 UTEP became the first C-USA women's team to finish undefeated in league play (16-0) while claiming the program's initial league title. The Miners finished 15-1 in C-USA in 2012 in addition to also winning the program's first conference tournament championship. UTEP owns the C-USA single-season record for winning streak at 23, which was set in 2007-08. The University of Texas at El Paso was founded in 1914. Notable alumni include former ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson, well-respected and former NFL referee Ed Hochuli, former NASA astronaut Danny Olivas engineer & Dennis Poon, who designed Taipei 101 & some of the tallest buildings in the world.

SPECIAL RUN

The Miners are 158-103 since the start of the 2011-12 season, including 3-1 this year. UTEP has played postseason basketball three times during the stretch, making two deep runs in the WNIT (2014 runner-up, 2016 quarterfinals) and earning the C-USA automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Tournament (lost, first round). The Orange and Blue have enjoyed 19 separate winning streaks of at least three games (nine such skids), and posted 93 double-digit victories (54 such losses) during that time frame.

HOME GAMES A PLENTY

UTEP will play a total of 18 home games in 2019-20 (2-1 thus far), which will be the most in the regular season for the Miners since also doing so in 2006-07. UTEP will be home for nine of its 11 non-conference games, the exceptions being matchups at I-10 rival NM State (Nov. 13) and SMU (Dec. 19). The first nine games of the season will either be played in El Paso or within 40 miles of it, until the Miners board a plane for the first time to battle the Mustangs in the Metroplex. There will then be nine C-USA contests at the Don Haskins Center.

HOME SWEET HOME

UTEP has an all-time home record of 366-231, including standing 2-1 in the Don Haskins Center this year. The Miners have amassed a record of 168-57 at home since 2006-07, including 101-40 since 2011-12. UTEP has been particularly strong in nonconference play, standing 84-18 in the Sun City in such contests since 2006-07.

TRAVEL TIME

UTEP is 149-372 all time on the road, including finishing 1-0 in this year. When playing at a neutral site the Miners stand 62-82, including going 2-2 last season. Since the start of the 2006-07 season UTEP is 66-79 on the road, including 42-48 since 2011-12.

ZEC IN THE CAREER RANKINGS

UTEP senior Katarina Zec has sprinkled her names throughout the UTEP career records. Zec is ninth for 3-pointers made (103), 3-pointers attempted (288) and games started (84), 16th in minutes played (2,546), 22nd for assists (171), 26th in points (809), 28th for field goals made (288) and tied 33rd in games played (91).

QUICK REVIEW OF LAST YEAR

There were some ups and downs in 2018-19, but UTEP played its best basketball late in the season to punch a ticket to the C-USA Championships for the second straight year. Once there 11th-seed UTEP made some noise by rallying from a 10-point deficit late in the third quarter to upset sixth-seed Marshall, 64-56, in double overtime (3/13/19). UTEP delivered its first road sweep in league play in three years with two wins in three days (at FAU, 70-44, 2/7/19 and at FIU, 60-55, 2/9/19). The 26-point differential at FAU was the second-biggest margin of victory in a conference road game in program history. UTEP also dispatched North Texas (59-51, 3/7/19) to improve to 2-0 on "Senior Day" under Baker.

CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Fans are encouraged to connect with the Miners on Facebook (UTEP Women's Basketball), Instagram (@utepwbb) and Twitter (@UTEPWBB).

NEXT UP

UTEP will return to action with the Eighth-Annual UTEP Thanksgiving Classic from Nov. 29-30 at the Don Haskins Center. The Miners will play twice in as many days, squaring off with Western Michigan (3:30 p.m., Nov. 29) and Georgia State (7:30 p.m., Nov. 30). In the other match-ups for the classic, NM State will face both Georgia State (1 p.m., Nov. 29) and Western Michigan (5 p.m., Nov. 30).

CLIFF NOTES ON THE '19-20 SEASON

AT UTEP 92, ALCORN STATE 47, 11/16/19)

UTEP raced out to an 18-point lead (28-10) after the first quarter and never looked back in a 92-47 win against Alcorn State at the Don Haskins Center on Nov. 16. Katarina Zec (17 points) led a quartet of Miners (3-0) in double figures for scoring in the wire-to-wire victory against the Lady Braves (0-4). Ariona Gill (14 points, game-high seven rebounds), Michelle Pruitt (13 points) and freshman Avery Crouse (career-high 10 points) buoyed fellow starter Zec. The bench did its part too by piling up 34 points, with Ariana Taylor (nine points) setting the tone for the reserves. DejaNae Roebuck (career-high tying seven points) nearly matched Taylor. UTEP registered 23 assists on 34 field goals, won the boards (44-26) and forced 28 turnovers that were converted into 27 points. The Miners shot 54.8 percent (34-62) from the floor, including 39.1 percent (9-23) from distance. Alcorn State was held to 32.0 percent (16-50) shooting. It marked the third 90+ point scoring contest under head coach Kevin Baker, who has his squad off to a 3-0 start for the second time in three seasons.

UTEP 63, AT NM STATE 57, 11/13/19)

AT UTEP 63, UC RIVERSIDE 60, 11/9/19)

UTEP bolted out to a 19-point lead (33-14) at the half on the way to defeating UC Riverside, 63-50, at the Don Haskins Center on Nov. 9. The Miners led wire-to-wire against the Highlanders, who were playing for the third time in five days to start the season. UTEP took advantage of that fact, turning up the heat defensively with a pressing defense that forced 28 turnovers. Those giveaways led to 25 points. Katarina Zec tallied 18 points to lead a balanced offensive attack that featured six different players with at least six points. Freshman Katia Gallegos debuted with nine points, five assists, two steals and no turnovers in a squad-high 34 minutes of playing time. Junior transfer Michelle Pruitt (eight points, 10 rebounds) flirted with a double-double while fellow classmate and transfer DejaNae Roebuck came off the bench to score seven points. UTEP got to the free throw line 30 times and took 60 shots to the Highlanders' 41 attempts. The discrepancy came from UCR's 28 turnovers compared to only 15 by the Orange and Blue.

STIFLING DEFENSE

UTEP locked down on UCR (11/9) from the onset, limiting the Highlanders to four points in the first quarter. It tied as the third-lowest points allowed in a frame by the Miners. Additionally, the 50 points allowed were the fewest in a season opener since 2006-07.

EXHIBITION REWIND

UTEP prepped for the 2019-20 season by posting a pair of victories against Division II opponents in exhibition contests. The Miners downed Eastern New Mexico, 84-64, (Oct. 26), while also besting St. Mary's (TX) (Nov. 2), 59-47. Katarina Zec averaged 20.5 points per game to lead the unit, with transfer Michelle Pruitt (10.5 ppg) also checking in for double figures. UTEP had a +9.0 rebounding margin (41.5-32.5) during the contests. The Miners also forced 24.0 turnovers per game, which made up for the opposition hitting 41.2 percent (42-102) from the floor in the two contests.

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