UTEP Athletics

Miners Hit Beach For Turkey Week Tourney

11/23/2022 10:48:00 AM

UTEP GAME NOTES

EL PASO, Texas – UTEP women's basketball departs on Thanksgiving to play in the Holiday Beach Classic hosted by Cal Poly on Friday and Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

The Miners (4-0) begin play in the event on Friday at 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT against Mountain West foe San Jose State (1-3).

GAME COVERAGE
There will be no live stream offered for the neutral site games of the Holiday Beach Classic. Live stats for the game on Friday can be found on the Cal Poly StatBroadcast Portal.

SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE
Former Texas assistant April Phillips is in her first season as head coach at San Jose State, with the Spartans coming off a hard-fought 74-65 overtime loss at home against 2021-22 NCAA Tournament team Montana State on Tuesday. Two players are averaging double figures for San Jose State, led by Marisa Davis-Jones with 11.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Jada Holland is averaging 11.0 points, 3.8 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.3 rebounds per game to this point. The Spartans are opportunistic on the defensive side of the floor, ranking 33rd nationally and third in the Mountain West with 22.8 turnovers forced per contest.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SAN JOSE STATE
UTEP holds a 9-7 advantage in the all-time series with San Jose State. The two sides have not met since a 66-63 win for the Miners on Feb. 17, 2005 when the teams were both still in the WAC.

EXPERIENCED IN OVERTIME
One season after playing in a school-record five overtime games, the Miners won their first of the new season with a 72-68 defeat of Texas State last Saturday.

MONTROSE TAKES HOME FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK HONORS
UTEP women's basketball guard Soleil Montrose was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Week presented by Blenders Eyewear on Monday by the league office. Montrose, a product of Mater Dei High School in California, averaged 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last week as the Miners picked up wins over Texas Southern and Texas State to improve to 4-0. She exploded onto the scene with 19 first-half points for the Miners in a win over Texas Southern on Wednesday on the way to a team-high 23 points. For the game, she would go 9-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-4 from the perimeter while also bringing down six rebounds. Her outstanding week continued on Saturday in a 72-68 overtime victory over Texas State with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. In that win, Montrose went 2-of-5 from downtown while extending her streak to three straight games scoring 10 or more points. The freshman earned a spot in the starting lineup for each game, playing 30 minutes on Wednesday and 37 on Saturday. Montrose is the first UTEP player to receive the honor since Arina Khlopkova in December of the 2019-20 campaign.

STARTING 4-0
The Miners have started the year 4-0 a total of 10 times now in program history. The 10-0 start by the 2011-12 team still stands as the best beginning to a season. That group would go on to finish 29-4 on the way to advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

GUARDS CRASHING BOARDS
In the win over Texas State, the backcourt duo of Jazion Jackson and N'Yah Boyd combined for 17 rebounds. Jackson set a career high with nine boards and Boyd tied her career best with eight. Fellow guards Soleil Montrose and Sabine Lipe each had five rebounds as well while Avery Crouse brought down four.

BOYD HAS STANDOUT WEEK
Point guard N'Yah Boyd was outstanding last week in the sweep of Texas Southern and Texas State, averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. In the two games, she set or equaled numerous career highs, including a career-best seven assists to pair with 14 points, three rebounds and two steals in an 80-65 win over Texas Southern on Wednesday. She then took over in the second half of a 72-68 overtime victory against Texas State on Saturday, netting a team-high 19 points, tying a career high with eight rebounds and distributing three assists. She also had a steal on the defensive end. In the overtime period, Boyd scored eight points, connecting on a 3-pointer to start the extra time and then draining five free throws in the final 16 seconds to ice the win. Against Texas State, Boyd played a career-high 41 minutes and tied a career high with eight made free throws.

JACKSON TOPS IN C-USA
Guard Jazion Jackson leads C-USA with 15 steals on the season and is also atop the league leaderboard averaging 3.8 per contest. Her 15 steals ranks 25th nationally and the per game average is 16th.

TAC SETS CAREER HIGH
In the win against Texas State, Adhel Tac grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. She leads the Miners with 7.3 per game and 29 overall. The sophomore from Garland, Texas has started three straight games on the interior for UTEP.

BACK IN THE GOLDEN STATE
UTEP is playing in California for the first time since knocking off Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside on back-to-back nights on Dec. 29-30, 2017. The Miners topped the Titans 92-91 in overtime and won 73-62 against the Highlanders. In program history, UTEP has played in California 54 times entering the week.

DOMINATING TURNOVER MARGIN
The Miners rank 19th nationally with a +9.3 turnover margin and are 45th in turnovers forced per game with 12.5.

WHEN SCORING 70
UTEP is 50-6 when scoring 70 or more points with Kevin Baker as the head coach.

MINERS IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
UTEP has been tough to beat in non-conference action over the last three-plus seasons, posting a 22-8 mark dating back to the start of the 2019-20 campaign, with above .500 marks in each of those seasons in out of league play.

NOVEMBER NUMBERS
The month of November has been kind to the UTEP women's basketball program since Kevin Baker took over prior to the 2017-18 campaign. Since then, the Miners are 23-7 overall, including a 17-2 mark over the past four seasons.

UNBEATEN TEAMS
In NCAA Division I women's basketball, 53 teams are undefeated as of Nov. 22. The Miners are one of four C-USA teams without a blemish on their record.

ROAD-HEAVY STRETCH
From Nov. 20-Dec. 28, a stretch of 38 days, UTEP will play just one home game in the Don Haskins Center. That lone game will be a date with NM State on Nov. 30. The Dec. 29 conference meeting with UAB is the solo home game for the Miners in the month of December.

BAKER ONE WIN FROM 200
Kevin Baker has 199 collegiate wins between his time at UT Tyler, Angelo State and UTEP. With the Miners, Baker has compiled 77 wins over the course of his first six seasons on the sideline. Including his time coaching high school basketball, Baker has 421 overall wins as a head coach.

LIVING AT THE STRIPE
Last season, UTEP made 430 free throws, ranking second in the conference and 41st in the country. Expect the Miners to once again get to the line plenty, with multiple driving options throughout the roster who will be aggressive in getting to the basket. To this point that has held true, with UTEP attempting over 27 free throws per game, which is 10th nationally. In the head-to-head comparison against opponents, the Miners have earned 12 more free throws per game.

NM STATE GAME TO AIR ON ESPN+
When the Miners host NM State on Nov. 30, the game will be broadcast on ESPN+. KVIA sports reporter Rachel Phillips and Sven Alskog will have the call courtside in the Don Haskins Center.

WHAT'S NEXT
UTEP takes on Sacramento State on Saturday at noon PT/1 p.m. MT to conclude action in the Holiday Beach Classic. The Hornets are 3-1 with wins over Santa Clara, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis.

HOME TICKET INFO
Tickets start at $8 for regular season games while groups of 10 can purchase tickets for $5 a piece. Fans can buy single-game tickets and season tickets (starting as low as $65) for the new campaign at the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office by calling (915) 747-UTEP, visiting UTEPMiners.com/tickets, by emailing tickets@utep.edu, or by stopping by in person at 500 W. University Ave., 79968 (Monday thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

Help support UTEP student-athletes by making a gift to the Miner Athletic Club.

Visit givingto.utep.edu/mac today!

For complete coverage of UTEP women's basketball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @UTEPWBB (Twitter), @utepwbb (Instagram) and on Facebook or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.

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