UTEP Women's Basketball Releases 2019-20 Season Schedule

UTEP women's basketball released its 2019-20 schedule today, tabbed with 18 regular-season home games and featuring some pretty notable opponents.

The season kicks off on Nov. 9, as the Miners host UC Riverside, who is coming off a second-place finish in the Big West Conference, and will play nine of the 11 non-conference games at the Don Haskins Center.

UTEP will host its two neighboring rivals UNM (Nov. 19) and NMSU (Nov. 23), along with an away game against the Aggies (Nov. 13). NMSU is coming off a 26-7 season in 2018-19 where they reached the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos, on the other hand, finished second place in the Mountain West (24-7) and made it to the WNIT.

The Thanksgiving Classic (Nov. 29-30) will feature matchups against Western Michigan and Georgia State.

After home games against Weber State (Dec. 4) and Arizona (Dec. 7), the Miners will have a 12-day break for finals and resume action on the road SMU (Dec. 19) and finish the year with a home game against Tulsa (Dec. 29).

In C-USA action, the Miners will adhere to the adoption of the "Bonus Play" model, which is aimed to group the final four games by the power rankings of the teams.

Head coach Kevin Baker and the Miners will return eight players from last year, such as senior forward/guard Ariona Gill, junior guard Alexa Hoy, junior guard Jordan Jenkins, sophomore guard Sabine Lipe, senior guard Neidy Ocuane, senior guard/forward Jade Rochelle, sophomore forward Ariana Taylor, senior guard/forward Katarina Zec.

The newcomers include junior guard Tia Bradshaw, freshman guard Avery Crouse, freshman guard Katia Gallegos, freshman guard/forward Arina Khlopkova, freshman forward Tatyana Modawar, junior forward/center Michelle Pruitt, junior forward Dejanae Roebuck).

“We are very excited about the upcoming season’s schedule,” UTEP head coach Kevin Baker said in a release. “We will play nine non-conference home games. This is quite a bit different from years past as we have been on the road a lot in the early part of the season. We will play NM State twice and we hope to continue doing so for many years to come. We will travel to SMU for a great matchup between a Conference USA team and an American Athletic Conference team. In addition, we will have return games at home versus Weber State, Tulsa, and WNIT Champion Arizona. Perhaps the most exciting part of our non-conference schedule will be our own Thanksgiving Classic. We will square off against Western Michigan and Georgia State in the friendly confines of the Don Haskins Center. This will make for a preseason schedule that will challenge our team and get us ready for the tough Conference USA grind.”

2019-20 UTEP Women’s Basketball Schedule

Courtesy of UTEP athletics:

All times Mountain

Oct. 26 Eastern New Mexico (EXB) 1 p.m.

Nov. 2 St. Mary’s (Texas) (EXB) 1 p.m.

Nov. 9 UC Riverside 7 p.m.

Nov. 13 at NM State 7 p.m.

Nov. 16 Alcorn State 1 p.m.

Nov. 19 New Mexico 11 a.m.

Nov. 23 NM State 1 p.m.

Nov. 29 Western Michigan# 3:30 p.m.

Nov. 30 Georgia State# 7:30 p.m.