The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros head women’s basketball coach Lane Lord announced on that Ronnie Cantu, a former basketball standout at Mission Veterans Memorial, has joined the program as a graduate student coach.
Cantu will be pursuing a Master of Communications while assisting the women’s basketball program. She’ll work with the guards and posts, shadow each coach to assist with breaking down film for scouting reports and fundamental drills, and help coordinate travel and other aspects of basketball operations. Cantu will help run practices and travel to road games with the team.
“We’re really excited to have Ronnie for many reasons. She’s from the Valley, played college basketball for four years, and to have her back here to help us get engaged in the community is great,” Lord said. “She’ll be with us for two years, which is a blessing. One of the most important things is she has a lot of knowledge with Synergy and a lot of our video-editing systems that she used in college, so now she’s on the other side of it breaking down film and she’ll gain a lot of knowledge working with our staff. We coaches have the greatest job in the world and to be able to pass that knowledge on to the young people is what we’re here for.”
Cantu comes to UTRGV after playing for the St. Edward’s Hilltoppers from 2020-24, where she earned her bachelor’s in kinesiology with an emphasis in physical therapy. The 5-4 guard played in 94 games making 31 starts and averaging 3.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game at St. Edward’s. She was a 74% shooter from the free-throw line and averaged 19.6 minutes per game for her career. Cantu earned the Topper True award while at St. Edward’s, which is given to one student-athlete each year who embodies what it means to be a Hilltopper.
Growing up a coach’s kid, Cantu calls herself a “gym rat” and grew up around the game of basketball. She played for her dad, Rafael, at Mission Veterans, where she racked up individual accolades as a four-year letterwinner. She was the district and RGV Basketball Coaches Association (RGVBCA) All-Valley Newcomer of the Year in 2017, the district co-MVP in 2019, and the district and RGVBCA MVP in 2020. She also earned The Monitor’s All-Area Co-Offensive Player of the Year, All-Region IV and Class 5A All-State honors from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches (TABC) as a senior.
“I’m truly happy to be back home, and what better way to make my homecoming than by contributing with the sport I’ve loved my entire life,” Cantu said. “I’m excited to work with Coach Lord and the rest of the coaching staff and the team, to learn about them and from them. I really want to take this coaching opportunity and see where I can run with it.”
Coming off her own four-year career, Cantu hopes to be a resource to help the Vaqueros adjust to the demands of being a collegiate student-athlete. She’ll lean on the experiences gained during her own playing career to preach the importance of the guard-post relationship and balancing academics with athletics.
“Being a student-athlete isn’t an easy task, so my goal is to be someone they can lean on and talk to and feel vulnerable with and give some basketball knowledge as well,” Cantu said. “My dad was my high school coach, so I was lucky to have an amazing human being guide me. The best thing about going into coaching now is I can use all of that love from my dad and my previous coaches and mentors and be that person for the next generation.”
Cantu is eager to soak up lessons from the Vaqueros coaching staff and share her love of the game. She said it’s special to be back home as she embarks on a new chapter in basketball and aims to be an asset to the program.
“I want to thank the Valley, the community, for all of their love and support and everything they’ve done as I continued my journey into college basketball and now back to the Valley,” Cantu said. “The beauty of this staff is that we’re all so different in a good way. We all bring something new and exciting to the table. I’m so excited to go on this journey with this team.”
