The UTEP's women's basketball team's first conference game against rival New Mexico State leads off its Conference USA schedule, which was released by the league Tuesday. The Miners open at home against the Aggies on Jan. 6.
The 16-game, double round robin mirrors the men's schedule with the sites reversed, so the Miners close with a bye on March 9 when the other eight teams close their regular seasons. UTEP will thus finish March 7 at Florida International, the one team in the nine-team league that doesn't have a travel partner.
The travel partner pairings are UTEP-New Mexico State, Middle Tennessee-Western Kentucky, Jacksonville State-Liberty and Louisiana Tech-Sam Houston.