ABILENE – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team beat the University of North Texas (UNT) 74-69 in the second round of the Preseason WNIT on Friday at Moody Coliseum.
 
UTRGV advances to face host Abilene Christian, a 73-66 victor over Omaha in the first game of the day, on Saturday at 6 p.m.
 
Senior Shawnte' Goff led UTRGV (1-1) by posting her third-career double-double with 29 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-5 from behind the arc, and 11 rebounds. She now has 1,438 points, just one shy of Bianca Torre's program scoring record of 1,439 points set from 2009-13. Sophomore Idil Türk scored 11 points while hitting a trio of three-pointers.
 
Terriell Bradley led UNT (0-2) with 21 points. Tyara Warren scored 17 points.
 
After Bradley opened the game with a three, sophomore Tristan Murphy responded with back-to-back jumpers to give UTRGV the lead before a Goff jumper made it 6-3. Then, after a pair of Warren free throws, a Turk three, two free throws by sophomore Bernesha Peters, and a Goff three made it 14-5 while a pair of buckets by senior Mary Savoy made it 18-7 with 4:15 remaining in the first quarter.
 
Micayla Buckner hit two baskets and a free throw to power a 10-3 run that brough UNT within 21-17, but a Goff layup and a Turk three pushed the lead back to nine.
 
UTRGV pushed its lead back out to 11 at the 3:28 mark of the second quarter when a layup by freshman Megan Johnson made it 33-22.
 
UNT climbed within four at 35-31 on consecutive Warren jumpers early in the third quarter, but Goff hit two three-pointers and two free throws to fuel a 10-4 to put UTRGV up 45-35.
 
A Bradley jumper made it 52-45 at the end of the quarter, but UTRGV opened the fourth quarter on an 8-2 run to push the game out of reach.

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