The next step

UTRGV Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lane Lord said he believes it is time for the program to take the next step and expects the team to be at the top of the league this coming season. 

Lord told The Rider the team is excited for the opportunity to play after dealing with various road bumps last season. 

“So, just kind of getting back to normalcy is really exciting for our team,” he said. “And we feel like we’ve got a chance to compete at the top of this league. We like our talent, and we like our culture and so we’re just excited to get going but, most importantly, we’re excited to get the fans back, the cheerleaders back, the band. … Not to have those guys last year with us, you know, the atmosphere wasn’t what we normally like. So, to have those guys back, we’re excited about that.” 

Lord said the team is also excited about a new offense it’s putting in this season.

“We’ve been spending a lot of time on offense, taking care of the basketball, cutting down on our turnovers, and then really improving our three-point shooting,” he said. “So we’ve been working on all offense. We’re getting ready to start putting our defensive plan into effect, but most of the summer and in this early part of fall, [we have] been working on the new offense.”

Lord said the team is young but will rely on the experience that a lot of the players got last year. 

“A lot of kids got to play that were  freshmen and sophomores and now they have that Division 1 experience,” he said. “We think it’s really going to pay off for us.” 

Last season, the basketball team recorded a 6-14 overall record, but Lord said the record “doesn’t matter” due to COVID-19 limiting their time to practice together as a team and even canceling various games.

“We were 4-2 at the Christmas break and we came back, and we had 42 days that we missed practice in January and February,” he said. “And, so, when you don’t practice, and then you come out of a quarantine situation, we may get one practice in after 14 days and then go try to play two games back-to-back nights. It was just really tough. 

“And that went on for the whole month in January and February. So, you know, injuries come along when that happens as well, when you’re not in your routine of practicing. So, you know, we did a great job with just finishing the season and I’m proud of that.” 

Junior guard Sara Bershers was one of the players who dealt with injuries last season but still managed to get an All Western Athletic Conference (WAC) honorable mention. Bershers said it was “awesome” to get the honorable mention. 

“I only played half the season last year and my sophomore and freshman year, I didn’t play very much either because of injury,” she said. “So, I’m excited to get back healthy and, hopefully, play a full season this year.” 

Bershers said she’s been doing a lot of treatment along with strength and conditioning with her team to get their bodies ready to go and play for a full season. She also said she has been trying to eat better. 

Lord said he believes Bershers will be one of the best players in the league this coming season. 

Graduate center Burcu Soysal told The Rider she is also excited for this season since she did not get to play much her first season here and last year dealt with injuries as well. 

“We’ve been doing, like, a lot of strengthening and, like, conditioning,” Soysal said. “And I can get in shape more, like, so I can play better, you know, and also been working with coaches to, like, get better with my basketball skills. So, I think that was going to help me a lot also. Like, I’m taking care of my body right now … to, like, prevent the injuries during the season.” 

Lord said the team has a great non-conference schedule this season, and said it is balanced. 

They open up the season  Nov. 9 in Tampa, Florida, against the University of South Florida, who are the defending American Athletic Conference champions and were ranked 19 last season. 

“Then, we have [Texas A&M University] Corpus Christi twice,” he said. “Once at the Bert Ogden Arena and then once over at their place. We go to Northern Colorado, we go to the University of Kansas and then we have some Texas teams at home.”

The home games include battles against Houston Baptist University and the University of theIncarnate Word.

“We’re excited about those,” Lord said. “We’ve never played those guys, but they’re in the Southland Conference with Corpus. And then, we have our big tournament, our South Padre Island Classic and we’ll play Liberty University and University of Texas at San Antonio.” 

“I think we have good girls that are wanting to put the work in and to be, you know, the best in the league,” Bershers said. “I think we all have a really good chemistry, we all really like each other. So, you know, that tends to help on the court. So, I think we have a chance to be something super special.”