The UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team is under the wing of a new coaching staff.
After five seasons of coaching the team, Head Coach Larry Tidwell announced his resignation on April 21. UTRGV began the search for his successor and a month later, Lane Lord was announced as the new head coach for the Vaqueras.
Lord has 24 years of coaching experience under his belt. He began his career as a high school coach in 1995 at Wichita Heights High School in Wichita, Kan., where he earned a record of 141-62. The team claimed two Kansas Class 6A state titles and Lord received Kansas Class 6A Coach of Year in 2002 and 2003 and Kansas Girls Coach of the Year for all classes by the National Federation of High School Coaches in 2003.
He left the program in 2004 and went to work at Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kan. From 2004-2007, Lord led the program to a 77-20 record. The team obtained a 27-3 overall record during the 2006-2007 season, resulting in a team share of the Jayhawk Conference West Championship.
Before coming to UTRGV, Lord coached for 11 years at Pittsburgh State University,where he garnered a 231-102 record. During Lord’s tenure, the team grasped five trips to the NCAA Division II National Tournament and made two Elite Eight appearances.
In 2011-12, the team made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. For the 2016-2017 season, Lord led his team to a 16-3 mark in Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, giving the program its first MIAA regular season title since 1996.
Lord’s list of awards includes five-time conference and three-time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year; Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Coach of the Year honors in 2009, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017; NCAA Regional Coach of the Year recognition in 2009, 2012 and 2017; and Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Four-Year Women’s College Coach of the Year honors in 2018.
Lord brought Associate Head Coach Anna Nimz and Assistant Coaches Ipek Turkyilmaz and Blake Huber.
Nimz played for Pittsburgh State back when Lord was the coach. She became the UTRGV associate head coach on June 5. Previously, she was head coach at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kan., for five seasons. She spent the last three seasons as head coach at Kilgore College in East Texas and had her team advance to the Region 14 Tournament Championship game.
Turkyilmaz, of Izmir, Turkey, was head coach at Trinidad High School in Trinidad, Colo., from 2017-18. She coached at Western Nebraska Community College from 2010-13 and from 2014-17 and at Metro State from 2013-14. Turkyilmaz played for Lord in 2006-07 at Barton Community College.
Huber previously was an assistant coach at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark. During the 2014-17 season, he was an assistant coach under Lord at Pittsburgh State.
With a new coaching staff, Lord feels the pressure is on, but he is up for the challenge.
“You’re not in this business if you don’t think that there’s pressure,” he said. “We want to win and we want to win right away, so that’s our goal.”
The primary goal for the team is to create a successful season. Last season, they were 14-16 overall and 4-10 in conference.
Returning to the team are seven seniors: guards Daniela Azubell (redshirt), Idil Türk, Jameka Dowell, Quynne Huggins, Nichele Hyman and forwards Krisynthia Sampson and Madison Northcutt (redshirt).
Azubell made her debut against Grand Canyon University, scoring three points with a first-career assist. Against Texas Lutheran University, she set a career high by hitting five straight three-pointers within nine minutes.
Türk led the Vaqueras three times in assists and once in rebounds. She reached double figures in scoring three times.
Dowell reached double figures in scoring seven times and scored a team-high 10 points against California State University, Bakersfield. She led the team twice in scoring, once in rebounds and four times in assists.
Huggins earned WAC All-Newcomer Honors. She led the Vaqueras in scoring 10 times; rebounds, eight times; once in assists and reached double figures in scoring 18 times.
Hyman led the team twice in assists and reached double figures in scoring twice.
Leading the team twice in scoring, five times in rebounds and three times in assists is Vaqueras forward Sampson.
Northcutt, of Wichita, Kan., is new to the program.
Juniors on the team are guard redshirts Shaiann Tramble and Natalie Ready and forwards Ruth Nwokora, Makaela Mosley and Megan Johnson.
Because of an injury, Tramble missed the final 27 games of the season, but was able to score seven points in 24 minutes against Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Ready redshirted her junior season due to an injury.
Nwokora, of Lagos, Nigeria, is a newcomer.
This is also the first season with UTRGV for Mosley,of Abilene. During the 2017-2018 season, Mosley played with Paris Junior College, where she averaged 7.9 points and 7.0 rebounds in 28 games.
Johnson led the Vaqueras nine times in scoring, seven times in rebounds and twice in assists. She reached double figures in scoring 12 times and earned MVP honors in the Battle on the Border.
Completing the team are sophomore guards Amara Graham and Valeria Tapia. Graham led the team in assists eight times and reached double figures in scoring five times. Tapia reached double figures in scoring three times, led the team in scoring once and 11 times in assists.
The Vaqueras will open their season at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at home against Texas Lutheran University.
