Dec. 12, 2005

In her first season with The University of Texas-Pan American Lady Broncs' basketball team, Dominique Montague (Gilbert, AZ/Central Arizona College) became their premier shooter from out beyond the three-point arc.

She was named to the All-Independent Newcomer team as well as honorable mention All-Independent honors in her rookie campaign with the Lady Broncs. For her achievements off the court, she was selected to the Academic All-Independent Team and named to the Bronc Pride 3.0 Club following the spring semester.

At the 2004 National Independent Tournament, Montague averaged 13.0 points per game and connected on 11 treys in a trio of games. After completing her first season as a Lady Bronc, Montague's performance placed her seventh in the UTPA all-time single-season record books in three-point field goals made and three-point field goals attempted. She was also ninth in three-point field percentage category connecting on 34.3 percent of her attempts.

The Arizona native led the squad in three-point field goals made, three-point field goal attempts and three-point field goal percentage. She seemed to improve as the season went on, notching a career-high of 16 points against Savannah State (Mar. 3) where she finished 5-8 from the floor, including four three-pointers.

"Last year it took me awhile to adjust since I wasn't so close to home anymore, but I finally over came that struggle, and it showed on the court," Montague said.

During the season, she also notched 10 or more points on 10 occasions, including the final four games of the season. She was listed second on the squad in minutes played and minutes average and third in field goal attempts, assists, points and scoring average.

Last season the Lady Broncs finished with a 14-14 overall record, the best in the program's history, but even though they are to a sluggish start, the three-point sharp shooter won't let her senior campaign end without a fight.

"I think that we have a lot of potential, and I just want to go out hard every time and have fun since it's my last year," she said.

The Lady Broncs have started off to a slow 1-8 record, but the optimism in the transfer senior still remains as their only win of the season thus far came against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 26). Earlier in the season, the Lady Broncs dropped their season opener to the Lady Panthers at the UTPA Fieldhouse.

"The win against Prairie View really got us out of a rut, it was something that we desperately needed, and hopefully it gets things started for us. I think that a lot of us lost confidence in ourselves even though we know we can play better than we have so far. That one win will hopefully help a lot, but we just need to keep working hard during practice," add Montague.

The unity within the team is a strong point in the eyes of Montague, and she believes that the coaching staff has played a big role in putting together a team that completely gels with each other, both on and off the court.

"They [coaching staff] all have a little different part when it comes to helping us, but the team doesn't work if there is a piece missing. They do everything they can to have us prepared for every single opponent that we face. It also helps that we are all cheering for each other and want to get the most out of one another," Montague said.

Montague isn't a very vocal person when it comes to speaking in front of group of strangers, but has no problem expressing herself on the court with her teammates.

In her final season,, she has continued to put up the numbers from downtown by connecting on 47.2 percent of her three-point attempts. She has nailed 20 of 42 from beyond the arc and leads the team with 75 points, averaging 10.7 points per game.

"I usually communicate through my actions, rather than being a vocal person," she added.

She comes from a very athletic family as her father played collegiate football for The University of Wyoming while her mother was a cheerleader there. Her brother Saunders Jr. is also following in his father foot steps as he too is a player for the Cowboys. She said that she has been involved in basketball at a very young age.

"I've been playing since second grade, and my dad even had me play on an all-boys team for awhile. We're definitely an athletic family," she commented.

Since that very young age, she said that her family has been very supportive since those early days.

"My mom and dad are very close to me, and they have always been very supportive with basketball," she added.

After is said and done as a UTPA Lady Bronc basketball player will have made her mark on the program in a very short time. While Montague has had success on the basketball court, it might be the mark that she leaves on those that she can help in the future that will make her a greater success.

"I would like to finish my undergrad here, I plan on going to physical therapy school and I will probably get my person training certificate this summer when I go home so that I can do it on the side for now. Though I haven't put much thought into what I'm going to specialize in yet," she concluded.

In what will be a short two years once this season closes, the Montague will definitely going down as one of the greatest outside shooters that has graced the Lady Bronc program, but one thing is for sure.

With the season coming to its midway point, Montague is sure to help her second family down the stretch and achieve the goals that the Lady Broncs set forth from the beginning.

"I want to do whatever is needed of me and play whatever role that I have to in order to us to be successful. I know that we are struggling right now, but the season is still young and a lot of good things are going to happen for us," Montague concluded.

UTPA Sports Information