Mahtri Petree finds her fit with UTEP women’s basketball
Mahri Petree is the deep thinker for the UTEP women’s basketball team, the Miners’ resident philosopher.
Three years ago, she transferred in from Bradley University, looking for a place to make a personal, spiritual connection, and for the 6-foot guard, that was UTEP and El Paso.
What happened to her last year gave her plenty of time to reconsider everything. After scoring 24 points off the bench in the 2022-23 season opener and earning a starting spot, Petree suffered a concussion in the second game, then missed the rest of the year.
Last February, when asked if she was close to a return, Petree replied simply, “I’m close to making a decision.”
Then UTEP turned over coaches, further adding to the equation surrounding the future she was considering.
What Petree soon found is that through all the changes, she was a perfect fit for her new coach, Keitha Adams. Petree is all about fit, and for the second time in her basketball career, she found what she was looking for in El Paso. That will be on display Saturday in Las Cruces when UTEP takes on its rivals from New Mexico State.
“Every coach is different,” Petree said of the connection she formed with Adams. “She’s full of passion, she’s full of energy. She often says that, ‘If you don’t have it today, you don’t have to act like you have it, because I’m coming every day.’ She’s bringing it. She sets the standard for us.
“I feel like this is the place I was supposed to be. I wasn’t called to be anywhere else.”
Consider, then, what Adams likes most about her versatile guard.
“Passion,” she said. “That’s the big thing. I Iike her passion, I like her spiritedness. That competitiveness, that passion, it makes a big difference.
“She’s a a talented player who can get on a roll, get you buckets. But I’ve enjoyed coaching her because of her enthusiasm and the spirit she brings every day.”
That’s something UTEP missed most all of last year. Petree was expected to be a major player for what turned into the Miners’ best team of the Adams interregnum, but wasn’t even allowed to watch practice the first part of her concussion rehab.
“Last year was interesting,” Petree said. “You take time away from the court, having to not be a basketball player for a while, you definitely have to get back into the swing of things.
“But the excitement was building up for the year, I was excited to get to know my teammates, see what we could do.”
From the moment Petree decided to use her fifth year of eligibility, her role on Adams’ first team was bound to change. She’s one of five returners on an otherwise completely new team and three of those five, including her, were injured last year.
Petree is expected to be a bridge from past to future, and to do that while averaging 8.3 points per game and playing several different positions as a swingplayer.
“It’s not any other team from the past, it’s a completely new one,” she said. “We have a lot of young players, a lot of overseas players, we have a lot of new players.
“Me, Adhel (Tac), Erin (Wilson), Veonce (Powell) and Z(hane Thompson) were the only ones who returned from the previous team, and two of them (Powell and Thompson) were redshirts. It’s been an adjustment.
“Learning how to build our chemistry, learning how to build our identity — we’re still in the thick of that, trying to
UTEP women at New Mexico State
What: A Conference USA women's basketball game
When, where: 2 p.m. Saturday, Pan American Center, Las Cruces Records: UTEP is 8-13 overall, 3-5 in Conference USA; NMSU is 9-12, 3-5 Tickets: $10 figure it out. A team can peak at any point and it would be good to do that going into the tournament.”
As for what she needs to do on the court and in the locker room, Petree said: “It’s definitely to be consistent with the energy I bring every day and to set a standard by example.”
“That’s something I have not done well this year, if I’m being honest,” Petree said, “but coach Adams continues to help me grow to be the best I can be. Every team I’ve been on I’ve been a vocal leader. Not much has changed there.”
Adams said the team needs what Petree brings in terms of leadership.
“Your new players, there is so much they are learning and adjusting to: a new campus, a new city, for some a new culture,” Adams said. “There is a lot of adjusting. For your returners, they help with the newcomers, especially your freshmen.
“They help them navigate the first time being away from home, at college.”
Petree can relate to looking for the right fit, the right place to be. Petree takes comfort knowing that she found that in El Paso.
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