Lacy kicked off team

Following a four-game suspension, freshman forward Chrishauna Parker will return to the team while freshman guard Ryah Lacy was kicked off, according to UTEP Athletics.

Head coach Keitha Adams made the announcement Feb. 7 at practice. Adams originally ruled the suspension to the two of them as indefinite for breaking team rules.

The two were allegedly involved in an incident along with senior forward Gloria Brown at Miner Village Jan. 20 but Adams never acknowledged that was the reason the two were suspended.

Parker and Lacy were allegedly cited for drug paraphernalia in their dorm room but the charges were dropped by campus police because they said it was an improper search.

At a Jan. 24 practice, when asked about the incident, Adams said, "the two players that were involved in the situation were suspended."

Parker was suspended for one game Nov. 19 against Houston Baptist for academic reasons. She has started in eight of the 17 games she has played in, averaging 5.8 points and four rebounds per game.

Lacy played in 13 games and did not start any. She was averaging 1.8 points and 1.2 assists in 12.3 minutes each outing.

Next game

Parker returned to practice Feb. 7 and may possibly make her return against the Marshall Thundering Herd Feb. 9 at the Don Haskins Center.

While the Miners are on a 10-game winning streak, the Thundering Herd have lost six of their last seven games to stand at 4-5 in Conference-USA play.

Still, UTEP is not taking them lightly and have revenge on their mind against a team they fell to on the road last season.

"It's a big game because we lost to them last year and it was on national TV," senior guard Baiba Eglite said. "So we're preparing to play them hard and do what they did to us at their place. We just want to play hard and have the best game we can have."

Despite shooting better and committing fewer turnovers, the Miners lost the battle of the boards last year by 18, en route to the 62-58 loss.

Junior forward Kristine Vitola's emergence this year has helped UTEP overcome that poor statistic from a year ago, as the Miners are outrebounding their opponents by a conference-best +9.2

"We're just going to have to hook up and play some defense and think about the way we lost to them last year," Vitola said.

Rebounding is still Marshall's strongest suit this season, with the league's best rebounding defense and second-best rebounding margin at +6.2.

No player is averaging double-figure scoring for the Thundering Herd but three are at 6.6 points or better. Sophomore guard Erica Woods leads the way with 7.1 points, while starting in all 21 games she's played in and leads the team with 6.3 rebounds a game.

Senior guard Lateidra Elliott is averaging seven points while mainly coming off the bench each game and has a team-high 2.3 assists per game. Sophomore guard is the third-leading scorer on the team, averaging 6.6 points while also coming off the bench.

UTEP is coming off a road win Feb. 5 at Rice and one day later, they received a total of 15 votes in the ESPN/USA Today and Associated Press top-25 poll. Adams has said she does not pay attention to those numbers and is just looking at the next game in hand.

"It's a big (game) for us. We're going to have to play really well and we understand that," Adams said. "Marshall has a good team. We're just going to have to play really well for 40 minutes."

William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.