What struck Destiny Thurman on her September recruiting trip to El Paso was how eager the UTEP women's basketball team was to meet her.
There's a reason for that.
The Miners like to win, and Thurman can make that happen.
She was named a third-team NJCAA All-American for the second straight year, her alma mater, Collin College, announced Tuesday.
"Everyone was texting me, 'All-American!' and I didn't know what they were talking about, I was so busy," said Thurman, a combination guard who averaged 17.1 points and 4.1 assists per game. "That was exciting."
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Thurman is one of six players who have signed with the women's basketball team this offseason, and if everyone makes it, that will give UTEP a full complement of 15 scholarship players for coach Kevin Baker's fourth team. It will be the first time the Miners have used every scholarship since Baker's arrival.
Thurman, though, is the only American signee. At the moment, the internationals from Finland, Latvia, Argentina, Brazil and Australia are back home and in a bit of limbo during this time of closed borders due to the coronavirus.
"Right now, that's a pretty big question. At this point, I don't know what's happening," said Dagne Apsite, who will be the program's seventh Latvian when she arrives in El Paso at some point. "We can go out now, but everything is closed.
"I think (the coronavirus situation) is better over here right now."
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What the UTEP newcomers-to-be have in common is that they fell in love with the school during the recruiting process.
"As soon as I got there to the hotel, all the girls were down there to see me and I could tell how happy they were," said Thurman, a 5-foot-7 native of Arlington who was her conference's Player of the Year. "I've always been a city person (she's spent high school and college in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex), so El Paso was very different and I really enjoyed it, the culture and the players.
"I had a lot of fun, more fun than any other visit."
Thurman anticipates playing both guard positions and could team with Katia Gallegos to give UTEP a two-point guard attack.
Elina Arike, a star on Finland's U-20 team, never actually visited El Paso but was sold on UTEP over WhatsApp.
"I really liked how coach Baker and the other staff talked with me, were interested in me for things beside basketball," said Arike, a 6-foot forward currently hunkered down in Helsinki. "It's a good program and I'm excited to go there. I'm nervous, but excited. It's going to be a lot different.
"I can do a lot of things. I can play a lot of positions. I'm mainly a stretch-4 (power forward who can shoot 3-pointers), but I'll play wherever they want me to play."
She said the large number of international players factored in her decision to come here.
"A lot of the newcomers are foreigners. That makes it easier, to know other players have done similar things," Arike said.
Finland, which is several weeks ahead of America on the coronavirus curve, has started the long process of coming out of lockdown, and Arike is now able to work out on outdoor courts near home. She has no idea when she'll be able to get to El Paso.
"I hope for the second summer session in July, but it's too early to know," she said. "We'll see what happens."
Apsite, a 6-2 forward, did make it to El Paso on a November recruiting trip. She has played against countrywoman and UTEP junior-to-be Sabina Lipe, and two of her favorite Latvian players are Miner alumna Kristine Vitola and Anete Steinberga.
"When I went there, everyone was so positive and very welcoming," said Apsite, a regular on U16 and U17 national teams. "I know Latvians have been there before and done well."
As for what she brings to UTEP, "I'm tall, so I can help rebound, help on the fast break," she said.
She's keeping in shape through the TeamBuildr app UTEP is using, though gyms are still closed.
Other UTEP newcomers-to-be are in the same boat: Clemson transfer Isis Lopes, who is back home in her native Melbourne, Australia; Argentina's Brenda Fontana; and Gabriela Sales, a transfer from Northwest Florida State, who is now home in Brazil.
The future is murky for everyone in or coming to America right now, but that's still a future that excites UTEP's large recruiting class.
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Bret Bloomquist can be reached at 915-546-6359; bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
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