UTEP head women’s basketball coach Keitha Adams underwent emergency oral surgery on Jan. 6, and will not be on the sidelines for the Miners’ road contests at Louisiana Tech (5:30 p.m. MST, Thursday) and Southern Miss (3 p.m. MST Saturday).

Adams, who is expected to make a full recovery in time for UTEP’s next homestand, will be missing a contest for the first time in her 25-year career as a head coach. UTEP associate head coach Ewa Laskowska and assistant coach Bill Damuth will handle the duties in her stead.

“This is going to be the hardest seat that I’m going to be sitting in,” Adams said. “It’s going to be extremely hard not being there but I have a great staff. I’m very confident that the two of them will do a good job, and I trust the ladies to go play hard.”

Adams’s head coaching career started at Winfield High School (1990-94) where she held served as head coach for basketball, softball, track & field and volleyball before she compiled a record of 127-37 at Independence Community College (1996-2001).

The native of Oxford, Kan., was named the seventh head coach in UTEP history on April 20, 2001, and her accomplishments are simply amazing. She has delivered three league championships, including claiming both the 2012 Conference USA regular season and tournament title, guided UTEP into a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a runner-up showing in the 2014 WNIT while changing the fortunes of the program for good.­

Adams, who received a six-year contract extension following the run in the WNIT, is the UTEP all-time win leader with a record of 242-169 in her 14th year. She has done a masterful job thus far with a young squad in 2014-15. The Miners have won four straight to move to 7-4 on the year and stand alone in first place in C-USA at 2-0.