Improved season coexisting with Latvian forward’s year

With age comes experience, and with that experience, confidence builds. This could be said for junior forward Kristine Vitola and her improved play.

This season, the 6-foot 4-inch 21-year old athlete from Latvia is averaging career-highs with 5.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. She's also found herself consistently in the starting lineup, having started 14 of the team's 16 games so far.

"She's been a lot more aggressive," head coach Keitha Adams said. "She's had some big rebounding games and some big blocks. We look for her to score around the basket. She's a really good shooter and her experience shows and she's more confident."

That confidence has resulted in statistical highs across the board. Besides scoring and rebounding, Vitola already has a total of 25 blocks this season, which is second on the team behind senior forward Gloria Brown.

Compared to her first two seasons at UTEP, Vitola already has more blocks than last year and is currently tied with her freshman and career-high. With those 25 blocks in her first year, she ranked first on the team, and had the 11th most in Conference-USA.

Besides Vitola's confidence and aggressive playing, she's also taking on more of a leadership role.

"She's played with a lot of confidence, that's the biggest thing," assistant coach Ewa Laskowska said. "She's been a very good returner for us. She's talking more on the floor and directing traffic."

The confidence that Vitola has shown consistently this year began to show last season. She averaged 13 minutes per game that year and contributed on the court. In their game with Idaho State, she posted her career highs that year with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Part of Vitola's success this year came from her preparation during the offseason in the summer of 2011. Vitola not only practiced with the Miners, she also participated in games for the Latvian national team. She has played as part of the country's under-16, under-18 and under-20 teams. She was on the under-20 squad during the 2008 European Championships. She averaged 5.6 points and 5.5 rebounds during that competition.

"I did pretty well there. It comes with experience," Vitola said. "Coach (Adams) had been telling me to take my time and face up, and I'm just trying to listen and do my best out there."

Some of Vitola's more notable games this year have come in close contests, such as during a 56-53 loss Dec. 28 at Arizona State and a 64-53 victory Jan. 5 at SMU. Against the Sun Devils, she pulled down 11 boards and swatted two shots. She almost earned a double-double against SMU, scoring nine points and eight rebounds. She also had three blocks during her 29 minutes of play. During the rematch against NMSU Dec. 10, she had 10 rebounds and two blocks.

Even in a more recent game, Vitola's impact was evident. During the Miners' home contest Jan. 12 against Tulsa, Brown was limited to just two minutes during the first half due to foul trouble. In need of another post player to step up, Vitola's impact while she was on the court was greater than some of the statistics showed. During the nine minutes she played, UTEP outscored the Golden Hurricane 21-7, 8-7 on the boards and forced six turnovers. Vitola finished the half and the game with three points and four rebounds.

While Vitola has made personal improvements to her game, it has been beneficial to the team as a whole. The Miners currently are 15-2, with a conference record of 4-0 against conference opponents.

"My confidence has come with the experience. I've been more focused (on the court)," Vitola said.

Rusty Burns may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.