UTEP WBB Faces Tough East Coast Swing

UTEP Women's basketball is preparing for a difficult east coast road trip where they will visit Old Dominion on Thursday and Charlotte on Saturday.  This marks the first time since they've been a member of C-USA that the program will play five of their seven conference games on the road to begin league play.  The Miners have struggled as of late due to injuries to Ariona Gill and Sabine Lipe, and have only played eight for the past three games.

The team has recently endured a 4-game losing streak, all by 15 plus points, and lost 6 of 8 overall.  Thursday's game at Old Dominion will get underway at 9 AM MST as the contest is part of an "Education Day" promotion.  ODU has become a familiar place for UTEP to play on an annual basis as they've now traveled to Norfolk for the fifth time in the past six years since the Lady Monarchs joined C-USA.  UTEP has lost three in a row at ODU including a 56-52 loss in overtime last February where they led by as many as 13-points in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Monarchs are having a turnaround season with a 13-5 record, nearly doubling their win total of 8 games last season.  They've won four in a row, are 6-1 at home, and have averaged 80 plus points in four of their last five contests at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.  They are led by leading scorer Victoria Morris who's averaging 13 ppg, Taylor Edwards, as she's third in C-USA in assists, Ajah Wayne, leading the team in rebounding at 8.8rpg, and Aziah Hudson, their leading scorer off the bench.  ODU is ranked 30th in the nation in rebounds per game (42.7) and 61st in the country in three-pointers attempted (405).

The Miners will play at Charlotte on Saturday at 2 pm MST.  The 49ers are 10-8 and defend their home court rather well as they are 8-1 at Halton Arena, which is tied for the league lead with three other programs for the most wins on their respective home court.  Charlotte is led by three players who average double-figures in Jade Phillips 12.1ppg, Laia Reventos 10.7ppg, and Mariah Linney 10.6ppg.  Reventos is currently in eighth place in Conference USA history with 521 assists and was one of 20 named to the Nancy Lieberman Award as the nation's top point guard.  You can tune in to both contests with the Iceman on 600 ESPN El Paso.