With double-bye, UTEP women eager to make noise in C-USA Tournament

EL PASO, Texas - Prior to the pandemic-revised season, Kevin Baker and the UTEP Women's Basketball team set their goal to reach the top four in the Conference USA standings by the end of the regular season.

That mission has been accomplished, and now it's on to a bigger prize at the Conference USA Tournament in Frisco, Texas.

The Miners (16-7, 13-5) regular season performance earned them a double-bye in this week's C-USA tournament. UTEP will play with the winner of Florida Atlantic and UAB/UTSA.

With a few extra days rest, UTEP will now need to win just three games in a row in order to punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

It is probably a relief for UTEP to see C-USA West Champion Rice on the opposite side of the bracket. The Owls were the only team to sweep the Miners in the regular season.

Leading the Miners will be Sophomore PG Katia Gallegos, who was just named to the C-USA 1st Team All-Conference this week after averaging 14.1 points per game and totaling 107 assists on the year.

The Miners will tip their opening round game on Thursday at 1:30pm on ESPNPlus.

Catch the UTEP Coaches Show with Kevin Baker on Mondays on ABC-7 at 4.