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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team kicked off a seven game home stand with an 86-55 victory over Evangel University on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Senior Mary Savoy posted her first double-double of the season and the fourth of her career to lead UTRGV (6-6) with a season-high 17 points, a season-high 17 rebounds, a career-high seven assists and a season-high tying four steals. The 17 rebounds tie for the sixth-highest single-game output in program history. Sophomore Idil Türk scored a career-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Junior Hidlur Björg Kjartansdóttir scored a season-high 16 points with five rebounds, three assists, one block and a career-high tying three steals. Senior Shawnte' Goff scored 15 points with three assists.
 
Taylor Longley led Evangel with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Reggine Brown finished with 10 points.
 
UTRGV scored the first six points of the game and led 8-4 after seven minutes.
 
That's when Kjartansdóttir hit a pair of free throws, a layup and a three and Türk made a jumper, a layup and a three to power a 14-0 run to put UTRGV up 22-4.
 
Then, with UTRGV up 22-6, junior Weslaco alum Laura Van Tilburg forced a jump ball to give UTRGV the ball back with 1.8 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Türk received the inbound pass, took two dribbles and then swished a three from about five feet beyond the half court line to make it 25-6.
 
Early in the second quarter, with the score 25-8, Goff hit two layups and a jumper in the span of just over a minute to spark an 8-0 run that put UTRGV up 33-8.
 
UTRGV took its largest lead of the half midway through the quarter when Goff nailed a three to make it 41-15.
 
Evangel pulled within 20 early in the third quarter, but UTRGV hit five of its next seven shots to go on an 11-3 run, capped by a Turk three that made it 61-33, to push the game out of reach.
 
UTRGV opens up the Battle on the Border Tournament on Monday at 7 p.m. against North Dakota State in a game that will be televised regionally on Spectrum Sports channel 323. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faces UC Santa Barbara at 4:30. Doors open at 3:30.

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