Boothe Brings Tenacity, Defense to UTPB Women’s Basketball

Falcons shoot to top of the Lone Star Conference

Hard work and teamwork are the two most important pillars of new UT Permian Basin women’s basketball coach Rae Boothe’s coaching beliefs, and are something the first-year Falcon is working hard to implement in the first month of games this season.

“I’ve always loved the game of basketball, but I also love what it does for people in the sense of teams,” Boothe noted. “It’s very important to be a part of something bigger than yourself and that’s been the basis of my coaching philosophy. The goal now is to establish a group of people that care about each other and are going to work very hard. To be a great teammate and to work very hard is something you can control, and I always tried to do as a player and coach and ask that of people in our program. Hard workers and great teammates are going to be really successful in what we’re trying to do.”

Boothe has the Falcons at the top of the Lone Star Conference averaging 11.6 steals per game and leading all teams in the league in turnover margin, averaging over three more turnovers created than given up per contest.

“It’s a controllable area, defense and playing hard,” said Boothe. “I found as a coach, playing on the other side, people that mix up defenses are difficult to play against when they’re playing a variety of defenses. You have to stop and figure out what they’re in and communicate that. I want our teams to control the pace in everything that we do and control the controllable. Mixing up our defenses and playing different styles keeps other teams from preparing on both sides of what we do offensively and defensively.”

The new style of play was evident in the Falcons home opener earlier this week. In a 70-54 win over Texas A&M International, UTPB forced 25 turnovers and ended the game with 18 steals to score 22 points off of turnovers in the 16 point victory. As the Falcons enter LSC play, defensive growth this season will be of the utmost importance to the team this season.

“When teams scout, most teams try to prepare for what other teams do offensively,” Boothe noted. “It really helps that teams need to prepare for us on both offense and defense, and usually they can’t simulate what we do defensively because we work on it every day. Controlling the controllable while playing at a fast pace helps us get steals and deflections, and while we’re not close to how it will be, we have a glimpse of what we’re trying to do. Every day we gain more and more understanding of what we’re looking to do defensively.”