Year two of Keitha Adam’s return to UTEP women’s basketball is one where she hopes to remind fans of her winning ways. In her previous stint, Adams led the Miners to multiple C-USA basketball titles and NCAA tournament appearances.
Last season, Adams resumed the head coaching position after leaving in 2017 for her home state of Kansas to coach Wichita State.
“It’s really a circle of a life, my story,” said Adams upon her return in 2023. “I left my home to come here. Then I left here to go back home, and now I’ve left there, to come back home. El Paso and UTEP have never left my heart.”
In her comeback season, the Miners experienced a little bit of a down year with a losing conference record. Still, they were able to rattle off a win against Sam Houston in the C-USA Championships.
“November and December, we’re going to work really hard these two months to learn about our team and figure out who we are,” said Adams five days before the season opener against the Texans.
On the first Monday of November, UTEP began its journey to becoming the best team they can.
While the Miners’ home opener was certainly tense, they were able to pull away from the Tarleton State Texans to beat them 52-49, starting the season 1-0.
UTEP found a groove early when junior Portia Adams led the charge by scoring the Miners’ first points of the season after making two free throws at the end of the first.
Portia Adams continued her production, but the ensuing 12 minutes were reserved by senior Ivane Tensaie to call her shot. Tensaie, who previously played for Penn State before coming to UTEP, scored six points in the quarter, which included her second three pointer of the day.
Tensaie’s game is a prime example of a roster that Coach Adams labels as “unique.”
“We’ve got returning players, some incoming freshmen, we have quite a few international players,” said Coach Adams in a preseason press conference. “It’s a roster that’s a good foundation for the future of our program.”
Going into halftime, UTEP had a comfortable 22-14 lead over Tarleton State.
Yet, when coming out of the locker rooms, the switch flipped. The Texan’s shooting game finally came alive as senior Elise Turrubiates sent a perfect shot to start the second half off with a Tarleton State three-pointer.
The Miners were able to keep up with an all-around effort to keep the game close even though they were outscored in the third quarter.
Fouls and turnovers defined the second half, as Tarleton finished the game with 17 fouls and 22 turnovers. UTEP fared a little better with only 15 fouls and 20 turnovers once play came to a close.
Despite the Texans and Miners committing more mistakes than they would’ve liked, they were solid in capitalizing off of each other’s mess ups. All in all, both teams gained 18 points off of turnovers.
Going into the fourth quarter, UTEP’s advantage was cut down to four points.
When reaching the end, it looked like first game jitters left the system of the players on the court because the Texans and the Miners combined for nearly forty points in the final quarter alone.
Tarleton senior Niki Van Wyk put up a pair of three-pointers, but to Tarleton’s dismay they were answered by Portia Adams, who didn’t let her 5 feet 6 inches height discourage her from taking a shot behind the three-point line.
Portia Adams was joined by Tensaie and sophomore Dunja Zecevic in the three-point attack. Zecevic, who has experience in big game moments after spending time in Europe’s perennial basketball league, the Euroleague, came up with eight points in the game’s final minutes.
Overall, both teams made 18 total shots, but it was UTEP who held the better field goal percentage with 43.9%, compared to Tarleton State’s 38.3%.
Their journey continues as they host Morehead State this Sunday at the Don Haskins Center and have plenty of time to grow before starting conference play Jan. 2.
Sebastian Perez-Navarro is a staff reporter for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected]
