Adjusting to the new season

Last year, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Women’s Basketball Team dominated the season while getting used to a new head coach, but this season another adjustment has to be made.

The program is starting from scratch. Only three players are returning, which are senior forward Megan Johnson, redshirt junior guard Amara Graham and junior guard Valeria Tapia.

“The talent that we had come in is very good, but we have some 18-year-olds, like six of them,” Head Coach Lane Lord said. “Then we have some 23-year-olds that transferred in, so we’re trying to mold all of them together.”

UTRGV welcomes 14 players to the program. The team is heavily comprised of seven freshmen: forward Sydney Cajero and guards Tiffany McGarity, Mia Paz, Payton Hicks, Mallory Gibson, Halie Jones and
Sara Bershers.

Freshman guard Sara Bershers (from left), graduate student forward Desirea Buerge and freshman forward Sydney Cajero warm up by shooting hoops before practice on Oct. 1 in the Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. AMANDA VELA/THE RIDER

“I think we did a really good job about recruiting players from winning programs,” Lord said. “We have some state champions that are in our freshman class.”

The rest of the players are transfers. The list kicks off with redshirt sophomore center Burcu Soysal, who comes from the University of Massachusetts. Three juniors enter the program: forward Iva Belosevic, from Lamar Community College and guards Trelynn Tyler, from Tyler Junior College, and Ashlei Lopez, from Morehead State University. Rounding the list of newcomers are redshirt junior guard Zhane Templeton, of Gonzaga University, and graduate forwards Desirea Buerge, from Missouri Southern State
University, and Jordan Agustus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

“Zhane Templeton played at Gonzaga, went to two NCAA tournaments there,” Lord said. “We have Jordan Agustus, grad transfer that played at St. John’s in the Big East. I think if we can mold in the young ones with the experienced players it’s going to be fun to watch.”

Last season, UTRGV reached great heights. The team entered the Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed.

At the WAC Tournament, UTRGV defeated Seattle University 56-54 and advanced to the semifinals, where they defeated California State University, Bakersfield 69-58. The team then advanced to the WAC Tournament finals and fell 76-73 in double overtime to New Mexico
State University.

The season continued when UTRGV was asked to be part of the 10th annual Women’s Basketball Invitational, where they faced the University of North Texas and fell 56-42.

The first game of the season will take place at noon Nov. 7 in the UTRGV Fieldhouse against Texas Southern University.