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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball is off to a 5-0 start in conference play for the first time in program history after defeating the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners 60-46 on Thursday in front of a crowd of 1,268 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
The Vaqueros are now a program record 13-7 overall, two games ahead of last year's record-setting pace, in which they finished 19-15.
 
The Vaqueros are now winners of five in a row in the same season for the third time in program history, having previously done so in 1991-92 and 1984-85.
 
The Vaqueros are also off to a 7-0 start at home for just the second time in program history and first time since 2007-08.
 
Vaqueros head coach Larry Tidwell is now the program record holder for conference wins with 22, breaking the program record previously held by Denny Downing (21, 2009-13). Already the program's all-time leader in winning percentage (.548) and conference winning percentage (.629), Tidwell now has 46 total wins with the program, which ranks third in program history. He needs four more wins to tie Downing for second place.
 
Junior Shawnte' Goff posted her firstdouble-double of the season with a game-high 19 points, a career-high 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Sophomore Hildur Björg Kjartansdóttir scored 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting with six rebounds and two steals. Junior Anushka Maldonado scored eight points with 11 rebounds and two blocks. In her first-career start, freshman Nichele Hyman scored eight points.
 
Alyssa Shannon led the Roadrunners (5-14, 2-2 WAC) with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
The Vaqueros missed their first seven shots as the Roadunners jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Kjartansdóttir, however, scored seven points of her own as the Vaqueros scored eight-straight points as part of a 15-3 run to take the lead.
 
The Roadunners scored the first six points of the second quarter, but Goff hit a three and junior Lile Havili banked in her first layup to give the Vaqueros a 20-16 lead.
 
The Roadrunners came back to tie the game at 27 at the start of the third quarter, but a Hyman three sparked a 24-10 run as the Vaqueros pushed the game out of reach.
 
The Vaqueros can break the program record for best home start and longest in-season winning streak, and tie the record for longest overall winning streak, when they host Seattle U on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse for the WAC Digital Network Game of the Week. The game will be televised on tape delay throughout the state of Texas on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (323) on Monday at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 11 a.m. Doors open at 6.

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