EDINBURG — The UTRGV women’s basketball team finished the 2021-22 season playing its best basketball at the end of Western Athletic Conference play and into the WAC tournament in March.
Head coach Lane Lord and the Vaqueros hope this year’s group can pick up right where it left off while introducing new key pieces with the season set to tip off Monday.
“Last year, we had 14 Division I wins, which was third-most in our league and then made a nice run at the end, so our expectations here are to finish in the top four in the league every year,” Lord said during WAC Media Day. “That gives us a good seed for the (WAC) tournament. We’re going to continue to play great non-conference opponents to challenge ourselves and make ourselves better and see what we need to do to be successful. We expect to be in the top four, we expect to compete at a high level, and I think we have the depth and experience to do that this year.”
The Vaqueros open the regular season against Oklahoma State at 5 p.m. Monday in Stillwater, Okla. They’ll have another non-nconference road test against McNeese State on Thursday in Lake Charles, La., before returning for their home opener against Northern Colorado on Nov. 15 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
The Vaqueros will have to find new faces to lead the offense after the team lost last year’s leading scorers Taylor Muff (13.9 points per game) to graduation and Sara Bershers (13.5 points), who transferred to Alabama at Birmingham.
That’s where the experience of junior guard Jena’ Williams and sophomore KaCee Kyle will be crucial. Both bring starting experience to the table but will be asked to score more while leading a four-guard lineup.
“We had really good leadership last year with Taylor and a few of the upperclassmen, so with them leaving, we have a lot more newcomers than returners, we’ve been trying to keep that culture and that type of environment,” Kyle said. “Holding people accountable is one of our biggest things, and so taking what we learned last year that was positive for us and bringing it into this next year.”
Running alongside Kyle and Williams will be junior guard Halie Jones, who has grown her game every year with the program. She’ll be instrumental to the Vaqueros’ success both offensively and defensively. Jones scored 4.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game last season. Williams averaged 4.4 points and a team-high 2.9 assists, while Kyle is UTRGV’s leading returning scorer with averages of 6.8 points and 2.8 assists as a freshman.
The addition of Iyana Dorsey, a junior guard and Tarleton transfer, gives the Vaqueros another playmaker in the backcourt and serious depth. A preseason All-WAC coaches second-team selection, Dorsey led the Texans with 10.4 points per game and a .838 free throw percentage last season and ranked second on the team in 3-pointers made and steals. She averaged 13.8 points during her freshman season at Tarleton.
“We’re going to have a lot of depth at that position. We’ve pretty much been a halfcourt team. I think we’re going to be able to play a little faster, I think we’re going to be able to play a little more up-tempo on the defensive end as well because of our depth,” Lord said. “We feel like we can run eight guards in there with four-guard lineups. We will play pretty much four-guard lineups all year because we feel we have eight kids that can do that and keep kids fresh.”
Posts Burcu Soysal and Brianna Sanchez are also back from last year’s squad. Soysal and Sanchez provide size and scoring down low and will be joined by junior college transfers Deborah Ogayemi and the 6-foot-4 inch Zariah Sango as versatile defenders and rebounders in the paint.
The Vaqueros finished 14-19 overall last season and 8-10 in WAC play, good enough for ninth place. Lord feels this team is the most talented he’s fielded during his five years at the helm that can help lift the Vaqueros to a top-four finish in conference play.
“We think this is going to be a big-time year for UTRGV women’s basketball, and we’re fired up to get going,” he said.
