LAREDO, Texas (April 18, 2017)  —Texas A&M International University Women's Basketball Coach Jeff Caha has announced the addition of Ashley Perez, a 5'4 point guard originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico coming to TAMIU from New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, New Mexico. Ashley will bring incredible stability and leadership to the Dustdevil squad for the 2017-2018 season.

In two seasons playing for Coach Drew Sanders at NMJC, Ashley was part of a program that won 53 games, won a WJCAC regular season championship, a NJCAA Region 5 tournament championship, and advanced to the NJCAA Final Four before losing to the eventual NJCAA National Champion.

As a freshman, Ashley provided solid minutes off the bench until an injury thrust her into the starting lineup in the Region 5 semi-finals. From there, Ashley led her team to the Region 5 championship, an automatic berth in the NJCAA National Tournament, and a run to the Final Four. Ashley finished her freshman campaign averaging 4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists for a team that finished 32-4 and had a 29 game win streak during the year.

As a sophomore, Ashley continued where she left off and led a team that was in the top 10 of the NJCAA national poll all season long. For the season, Ashley averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists while only committing 37 turnovers in 28 games. 

"Ashley is a player I have watched for a long time. Two of the first phone calls I made when I became the head coach at TAMIU were to NMJC Head Coach Drew Sanders and to Coach Lee Williams of the El Paso Fusion (Ashley's AAU Team) to let them both know how important Ashley was to the future of this program and that we were going to recruit her hard. The main priority heading into next year was to never lose a game because of our point guard play. With the addition of Ashley, we get a very vocal leader who has a great understanding of how to get the right people the ball, at the appropriate time, in the most ideal situation for that player to be successful."

"Off the court, Ashley and I have been able to build a great relationship. We both have a passion and excitement to build this program and compete for titles now. With her experience playing in one of the best women's basketball conferences and regions in the nation, I know Ashley is going to be able to come in and have a huge impact not only this season, but she is going to be a part of something that we can look back on years from now and know she had a huge part in creating it. I am very excited that Ashley chose TAMIU and we can't wait to see her in that maroon jersey" said Caha.

Ashley becomes the seventh addition to a recruiting class that includes early signees Vanessa Oyola and Dannia Gonzalez, redshirt forwards Dionne Martin and Veshae Asaua Wilkinson, and transfer guard Jaden Gonzales and transfer forward LaShae Rolle.