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What to know: UTEP Miners women at Charlotte 49ers

bret bloomquist, el paso times
·2 min read

The UTEP women look to bounce back from the loss to Western Kentucky when they travel to Charlotte for a rare Wednesday afternoon game.

Tip is set for 4 p.m. Mountain time and it will be streamed on ESPN+.

More:C-USA women's basketball standings

UTEP head women's basketball coach Kevin Baker at a game against UNT Thursday, Jan. 28, 2023, at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso.
UTEP head women's basketball coach Kevin Baker at a game against UNT Thursday, Jan. 28, 2023, at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso.

Who is Charlotte?

The 49ers have hoovered around .500 all season and come into this game one game behind UTEP in the Conference USA standings with a 6-6 league record (10-11 overall). They just split their Florida road trip, beating Florida Atlantic soundly on Saturday.

Charlotte is last in the league in offense and 10th out of 11 teams in turnovers. Guards Dazia Lawrence and Mikayla Boykin each average 15.6 points a game.

What is the challenge?

Everything comes down to UTEP's state of mind following the emotional weekend and brutal loss to Western Kentucky.

A Miners team that hasn't lost consecutive games this season needs to show that bounce-back mentality. That was a problem at this point last year when the season started going poorly.

UTEP needs to cut down on turnovers. Charlotte will likely struggle to score if it isn't getting easy baskets off giveaways and the Miners need to clamp down on that.

Quoting the team

"They've been so resilient," coach Kevin Baker said. "They've handled the injuries the tough, close losses. I think they'll handle this situation as well, not finishing the job on Saturday. I can only assume they will bounce back like they always have.

"We played phenomenal basketball for 70 our of 80 minutes (last week), I think that's what we need to focus on, how well we played."

Erin Wilson echoed that.

"It gives us confidence to know teams are beatable, to know we are one of the teams at the top," she said of the past week. "We know we can beat the teams people say we cannot beat. Focusing on that and knowing we have the right people is a big key."

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP Miners women at Charlotte 49ers what to know