2015–16 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's basketball team

2015–16 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's basketball
WNIT, First Round
ConferenceWestern Athletic Conference
Record19–14 (9–5 WAC)
Head coach
Assistant coaches
  • Gabe Henry
  • Anthony Anderson
  • Hannah Burleson
Home arenaUTRGV Fieldhouse
Seasons
2015–16 WAC women's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
New Mexico State † 13 – 1   .929 26 – 5   .839
UTRGV 9 – 5   .643 19 – 14   .576
Grand Canyon* 8 – 6   .571 16 – 15   .516
Utah Valley 8 – 6   .571 16 – 15   .516
Cal State Bakersfield 8 – 6   .571 12 – 19   .387
UMKC 5 – 9   .357 10 – 18   .357
Seattle 3 – 11   .214 9 – 21   .300
Chicago State 2 – 12   .143 4 – 25   .138
† 2016 WAC tournament winner
As of March 18, 2016
* Grand Canyon ineligible for WAC Basketball Tournament as part of reclassification from Division II
Rankings from AP poll

The 2015–16 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's basketball team represented the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. This was head coach Larry Tidwell's third season, but first under the UT-RGV label. The Vaqueros played their home games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse and were members of the Western Athletic Conference. This was the first season for UTRGV as an institution. Before the 2015–16 academic year, the University of Texas–Pan American and the University of Texas at Brownsville merged, forming the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. They finished the season 19–14 and 9–5 in WAC play to finish in second place. They advanced to the championship game of the WAC women's tournament where they lost to New Mexico State. They were invited to the Women's National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to TCU.

Previous season

The Broncs finished the season 19–15, 9–5 in final WAC play to finish in third place. They lost in the championship of the WAC Tournament to New Mexico State.

Departures

Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Notes
Troi Swain 1 G 5'6" Freshman Austin, TX Transferred[1]
Tonisha Walker 3 G 5'6" Senior Gardner, KS Graduated
Stephanie Onyeje 12 G 5'5" Freshman Pflugerville, TX Transferred[1]
T'Ondria Nolen 14 G 5'7" Senior Wichita, KS Graduated
Crystal Cardenas 20 G 5'7" Freshman Mercedes, TX
Brittany Bush 21 F 6'1" Senior Moline, IL Graduated
Cha'zaye Wright 25 F 5'8" Senior DeSoto, TX Graduated
Cherrell Price 33 F 5'11" Senior Midwest City, OK Graduated

2015–16 media

For the first time in club history women's basketball games will be televised. 9 of 11 home games will air on TWCS (Ch 323), with 6 of the 9 games airing live. The other two home games will air on the TWCS Alternate Channel (Ch 825). Other games will air on WAC Digital Network or road teams video feeds.[2]

Roster

2015–16 UTRGV Vaqueros women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
G 1 Bernesha Peters 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) Fr Spring Spring, TX
G/F 2 Yadira Ramirez 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr Hanks El Paso, TX
G 3 Angela Villarreal 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Fr Weslaco Weslaco, TX
G 4 Idil Türk 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Fr Bodwell Istanbul, Turkey
F 5 Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) So FSN Stykkishólmur, Iceland
G 10 Michelle Marquez 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) Fr Weslaco East Weslaco, TX
G 11 Shawnte' Goff 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Jr Copperas Cove Copperas Cove, TX
G 15 Nichele Hyman 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Fr Clovis Clovis, NM
F 21 Anushka Maldonado 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Yelm
Odessa College 		Roy, WA
G/F 22 Jada Bennett 5 ft 3 in (1.6 m) RS Jr Sherman
North Florida 		Sherman, TX
F 23 Micheline Mercelita 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) RS So Edinburg Edinburg, TX
G 24 Rickell Preston 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Sr Hahnville Killona, LA
G 30 Amanda Ramirez 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) RS Fr Los Fresnos Los Frenos, TX
F 32 Lile Havili 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Jr Granger
Western Nebraska CC 		Salt Lake City, UT
F 33 Mary Savoy 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Jr West Salem
Midland College 		Salem, OR
G 34 Sica Cuzic 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) Fr Trinity International Galati, Romania
F 43 Tristan Murphy 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fr Stanwood Stanwood, WA
F 44 Laura Van Tilburg 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) So Weslaco Weslaco, TX
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster

Schedule and results

[3]

Date
time, TV 		Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-conference regular season
11/13/2015*
2:30 pm 		vs. East Carolina
Islanders Classic 		L 50–79  0–1
 American Bank Center (76)
Corpus Christi, TX
11/14/2015*
4:30 pm 		vs. Cal Poly
Islanders Classic 		W 66–58  2–1
 American Bank Center (146)
Corpus Christi, TX
11/16/2015*
7:00 pm, TWCS 		Concordia W 90–44[4]  2–1
 UTRGV Fieldhouse (613)
Edinburg, TX
11/18/2015*
7:00 pm, TWCS Alt 		Texas Lutheran W 90–38  3–1
 UTRGV Fieldhouse (545)
Edinburg, TX
11/21/2015*
1:00 pm, ESPN3 		at Eastern Michigan L 56–78  3–2
 Convocation Center (443)
Ypsilanti, MI
11/24/2015*
9:00 pm 		at UC Santa Barbara W 62–60  4–2
 The Thunderdome (310)
Santa Barbara, CA
11/28/2015*
2:00 pm 		at TCU L 67–71  4–3
 University Recreation Center (1,543)
Fort Worth, TX
12/01/2015*
7:00 pm 		at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi L 46–49  4–4
 Dugan Wellness Center (613)
Corpus Christi, TX
12/03/2015*
6:00 pm 		at Incarnate Word W 68–50  5–4
 McDermott Center (206)
San Antonio, TX
12/05/2015*
7:00 pm 		at Oklahoma State L 54–78  5–5
 Gallagher-Iba Arena (2,332)
Stillwater, OK
12/07/2015*
7:00 pm, Cox Kansas 		at Kansas State L 43–61  5–6
 Bramlage Coliseum (3,872)
Manhattan, KS
12/17/2015*
7:00 pm, TWCS Alt. 		Incarnate Word W 60–47  6–6
 UTRGV Fieldhouse (711)
Edinburg, TX
12/20/2015*
1:00 pm 		at Houston W 55–45  7–6
 Hofheinz Pavilion (792)
Houston, TX
12/30/2015*
7:00 pm, TWCS Alt. 		Evangel W 75–60  8–6
 UTRGV Fieldhouse (544)
Edinburg, TX
01/01/2016*
11:00 am 		at Syracuse L 32–91  8–7
 Carrier Dome (442)
Syracuse, NY
WAC regular season
01/07/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS 		Grand Canyon W 52–28  9–7
(1–0) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (445)
Edinburg, TX
01/09/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS 		Utah Valley W 61–48  10–7
(2–0) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (611)
Edinburg, TX
01/14/2016
7:00 pm 		at Chicago State W 64–56  11–7
(3–0) 		Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center (100)
Chicago, IL
01/16/2016
7:00 pm 		at UMKC W 62–53  12–7
(4–0) 		Swinney Recreation Center (247)
Kansas City, MO
01/21/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS 		Cal State Bakersfield W 60–46  13–7
(5–0) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,268)
Edinburg, TX
01/23/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS* 		Seattle L 71–74  13–8
(5–1) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,108)
Edinburg, TX
01/30/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS* 		New Mexico State L 57–68  13–9
(5–2) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (1,709)
Edinburg, TX
02/04/2016
12:00 pm 		at Utah Valley L 57–71  13–10
(5–3) 		PE Building (1,389)
Orem, UT
02/06/2016
5:00 pm, Cox7 		at Grand Canyon W 68–66  14–10
(6–3) 		GCU Arena (376)
Phoenix, AZ
02/13/2016
1:00 pm, TWCS 		UMKC L 57–59  14–11
(6–4) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (668)
Edinburg, TX
02/18/2016
9:00 pm 		at Seattle W 76–71  15–11
(7–4) 		Connolly Center (262)
Seattle, WA
02/20/2016
3:00 pm 		at Cal State Bakersfield L 66–80  15–12
(7–5) 		Icardo Center (878)
Bakersfield, CA
02/27/2016
7:00 pm, TWCS 		Chicago State W 78–56  16–12
(8–5) 		UTRGV Fieldhouse (522)
Edinburg, TX
03/05/2016
2:00 pm, FSSW+/ESPN3 		at New Mexico State W 66–55  17–12
(9–5) 		Pan American Center (1,612)
Las Cruces, NM
WAC Women's Tournament
03/09/2016
6:30 pm 		vs. Chicago State
Quarterfinals 		W 60–52  18–12
 Orleans Arena 
Paradise, NV
03/11/2016
4:30 pm 		vs. Cal State Bakersfield
Semifinals 		W 73–72 2OT 19–12
 Orleans Arena 
Paradise, NV
03/11/2016
3:00 pm, ESPNU 		vs. New Mexico State
Championship Game 		L 53–80  19–13
 Orleans Arena (777)
Paradise, NV
WNIT
03/17/2016*
7:00 pm 		at TCU
First Round 		L 73–97  19–14
 Schollmaier Arena (910)
Fort Worth, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central.
  • - Games will be televised on tape delay.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Transfers add to UTPA turnover". The Monitor. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  2. ^ "UTRGV Basketball Games to be telecast for the first time". The Monitor. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Official Athletics Website of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley – 2015–16 Women's Basketball Schedule". Goutrgv.com. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  4. ^ "UTRGV Women's Basketball Cruises In Home Opener". KZTV. Retrieved November 17, 2015.