As the losses piled up for the UTEP women's basketball team, the big ray of hope at the end of the tunnel was that getting beat by five power-conference programs would pay dividends when Conference USA play begins.
They're about to find out.
The Miners' designated C-USA rival UTSA comes to town Sunday afternoon, catching a UTEP team coming off its third win and one that is starting to believe it has turned a corner.
"We had some good practices, we played well together," Sparkle Taylor said of the recent surge. "We need to do the same thing, keep encouraging one another, execute our game plan.