Photo Courtesy Staverne Joseph
Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER
Sophomore exercise science major Halie Jones is a guard on the UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team. She began her collegiate athletic career during the 2019-2020 season. In her first season, Jones played in 30 games and scored her career-high 20 points with six three-pointers at the UTRGV vs. Texas Lutheran game.
Q. What inspired you to start playing basketball?
A. “Honestly, I grew up in a very athletic family. So, it was just like what I grew up doing. So we would always be outside either playing football, basketball, you know, anything. So, basketball really just came naturally to me. I was just always better than, like, my cousins and everything. So I figured, like, I would just start playing for the school and then it just went from there.”
Q. What is your favorite part of your sport?
A. “Probably, like, just the chemistry of basketball and how close you are with your teammates. You travel all over the United States and you meet so many new friends and probably that, that’s my favorite part.”
Q. Why do you feel you’re good at your sport?
A. “I feel like I’m good at my sport because I feel like I can change the dynamic and I feel … everyone brings in like, something different on the court. I just started going in there and just worked hard. Just started with simple stuff like get defensive stops or rebounds.”
Q. Besides basketball, what are some of your favorite hobbies?
A. “Recently, me and my roommates have gotten into painting. Especially with everything shut down, like, you can’t just go to Top Golf. You can’t just go do anything anymore. So, we just started painting. We paint like every day.”
Q. What is your favorite guilty pleasure movie and why?
A. “I guess ‘Grease’ because I am actually watching it right now. It is such a good movie. I do not know why nobody says ‘Grease’ when people ask them about their favorite movie.”
