Vaqueras aim high in 2016

BY Bryan Ramos |THE RIDER

Coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in program history, the UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team is establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with in college basketball.

The last time the program had a winning record was in the 1982-83 season. After the 31-year drought, the Vaqueras have finished with a 19-14 record the previous two years.

Fourth-year Head Coach Larry Tidwell has turned the program around during his time in the Rio Grande Valley, compiling a 52-45 record. In the past three years, the Vaqueras have earned trips to the Western Athletic Conference tournament and two second-place finishes in the WAC regular season. Tidwell’s squad has put the work in and laid the foundation to build a winning tradition at UTRGV.

“I’ve been coaching for 41 years. I’ve not scored a point, grabbed a rebound, had an assist or steal; it’s about your players,” Tidwell said.

“You’ve got to go out and recruit and get good players that are not only good players, but are good people. Overall, I’m very happy with what we’ve done in building a culture of players that respect what we’re trying to do and buying in to what we’re doing.”

The team began fall practice two weeks ago and is gearing up for tip-off on Nov. 12 when it takes on the University of Nebraska as part of the Preseason Women’s National Invitational Tournament in Lincoln, Neb. The work toward the 2016-17 season began during the summer for the Vaqueras.

Senior guard and captain Shawnte’ Goff returns for her final season after a big year in 2015-2016, where she averaged 15.5 points per game.

Goff’s play earned her WAC Player of the Year, All-WAC First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. She became the first in program history to be named Player of the Year in her respective conference and was voted the preseason WAC Player of the Year for the upcoming season by WAC coaches and media.

“We get here over the summer to help the new recruits learn the system,” Goff said. “We feel like being here over the summer, learning the system, it will be easy once school and the season starts to get into everything because we’ve worked over the summer.”

Returning to Tidwell’s team to play a big role this year will be fellow team captains junior forward Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir and sophomore guard Idil Türk. Kjartansdóttir’s size and play around the rim provides a presence in the paint for the Vaqueras, while Türk’s knockdown shooting from outside brings a dangerous threat from the three-point line. Also returning is senior forward Mary Savoy, who was sidelined with a hand injury for most of the 2016 season.

Kjartansdóttir posted seven double-doubles in her final 12 games last year and is ready for another big year.

“I’m coming in with confidence. I’ve been working hard this summer on getting better,” Kjartansdóttir said. “I have high expectations. We’re looking good right now, but we have a lot to work on. We finished second in our conference last year, so we’re going for the championship this year.”

Goff has scored 1,390 points in her three-year career with the program and sits only 50 points away from the record, 1,439 points set by Bianca Torre from 2009-13.

“Bianca Torre was pretty good,” Goff said. “Every time I see her around she’s always encouraged me to break her record, so that’s really encouraging. I give most of the credit to my teammates because I can’t score baskets by myself. I can’t play just one on five. It will be a great accolade, but I’m looking to win games. That’s an individual award and I want a team award.”

The team award the group is after is a WAC conference championship and a berth to the big dance, the NCAA tournament. Tidwell has been to the NCAA tournament before, seven times as assistant head coach at Texas Christian University and once as the head coach at Lamar University. He said he hopes to take UTRGV to unreached heights.

“The main thing we want is a WAC championship and we want a WAC tournament championship in order for us to go play in the NCAA tournament and be a part of March Madness,” Tidwell said. “I’ve been in eight of those before and there’s nothing like it, and I would love for the Valley to experience that. Every person who has played and worn green and white and now the orange and silver, I have all the respect in the world and I would love to do it for them. We’d like to honor our past and honor our present and set high standards for the future.”

The Vaqueras will take the floor in the Orange vs. Gray Scrimmage at 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse for some intrasquad warm-up action. The first game of the season will be on the road against the University of Nebraska as part of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament at 1 p.m. Nov. 12. The ladies make their official home debut Nov. 25 when they face Prairie View A&M University as part of the Feast on the Border tournament.