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

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

2015–16 Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's basketball
WNIT, First Round
Conference	Western Athletic Conference
2015–16 record	19–14 (9–5 WAC)
Head coach	Larry Tidwell (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Gabe Henry Anthony Anderson Hannah Burleson
Home arena	UTRGV Fieldhouse

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

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 Larry Tidwell (Austin College) Assistant coach(es) Gabe Henry (Gonzaga) Anthony Anderson (Florida International) Hannah Burleson (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt 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

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

References

1. "Transfers add to UTPA turnover". The Monitor. Retrieved 2015-03-30.
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 2016-03-13.
4. "UTRGV Women's Basketball Cruises In Home Opener". KZTV. Retrieved 2015-11-17.