EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The UTEP women’s basketball will begin its 2023 season on Nov. 7 against Western New Mexico at the Don Haskins Center.
Until then, UTEP head coach Keitha Adams, her coaching staff, and her squad will be using the next month and a half worth of practices to make sure they are ready to go for the upcoming season.
“It’s really an exciting and teaching time because we have a whole new team,” Adams said. “Jane [Asinde] is the one player on the team that played for me and for all the other fourteen players, this is all new to them. So, we’re in a in a big teaching and learning curve right now.”
“There is a lot of energy put into these practices,” UTEP senior guard Erin Wilson said. “Coach Adams comes with energy to these practices every single day so getting to know her and her getting to know us has been good.”
The 2023 season will mark the first of Keitha Adams’ second stint as head coach at UTEP. Adams, the winningest coach in UTEP women’s basketball history, first coached the Miners from 2001 to 2017. Adams posted 284 victories over 16 seasons, while leading UTEP to four postseason tournament appearances (two NCAA, two WNIT) and four Conference USA championships (three regular season/one tournament).
This year, Adams and the Miners will look to put together more successful seasons. This year’s squad has 15 players total. Five of them are returnees from last year’s squad that was under the direction of former head coach Kevin Baker. Seniors Mahri Petree and Erin Wilson, junior forward Adhel Tac, and redshirt sophomore guards Zhane Thompson and Veonce Powell are those five returnees.
At the same time, Adams has brought in a lot of new faces. Senior forward Jane Asinde, who played at Wichita State under Adams the last two seasons, headlines the newcomers.
Junior guard Delma Zita and freshman forwards Dunja Zecevic and Luisa Vydrova are also new names you can find on this year’s roster.
The lead up to the start of the regular season will be all about figuring out what type of team UTEP will have in 2023.
“I’ve got to figure our team out. There are more questions that I have about our team and answers right now because all this is new,” Adams said. “We’ve got to figure out what’s the best way for us to play, but the bottom line is we want to get better as we go.”
Already in the early stages of practice, UTEP has very big goals for itself and is looking to build on last year’s 20-win season under former head coach Kevin Baker.
“Coach Baker and the team last year had a great season and there’ll be another banner hung,” Adams said. “To have that tradition there is a great thing we want to just build off on that. Of course, we’re going to have all new players so we’re going to go through some things to get there.”
“Personally, I want to win the Conference USA championship,” Asinde said. “I feel like that’s something we can do and at the end of the day we have to buy into what the coaches are telling us to do because they know better.”
