EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team opened up the Battle on the Border Tournament with an 81-67 victory over North Dakota State University (NDSU) on Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Senior Shawnte' Goff led UTRGV (7-6) with 27 points, six rebounds, three assists, one block and a season-high tying four steals. Freshman Bernesha Peters scored a season-high 22 points while hitting a career-high six three-pointers. Senior Mary Savoy posted her second-straight double-double with 14 points, 16 rebounds, a career-high seven blocks, three assists and three steals. The seven blocks tie for the eighth-highest single-game total in program history.
 
Taylor Thunstedt led NDSU (2-10) with 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 6-of-12 from behind the arc, with five assists. Brianna Jones posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Emily Spier and Kennedy Childers each finished with 10 points.
 
UTRGV led 11-10 midway through the first quarter, but Thunstedt and Childers hit three-pointers to spark an 11-0 run that put NDSU up 21-11 early in the second.
 
Goff answered with a three as UTRGV went on an 11-2 run to pull within 23-22, but two more Thundstedt threes propeled NDSU on a 12-2 run that made it 35-24.
 
Less than a minute later, with the score 37-26, Savoy hit a jumper as UTRGV closed the half on an 8-0 run to pull within 37-34.
 
NDSU pushed its lead to 49-45 on a Thundstedt three midway through the third, but Peters hit a trio of three-pointers and sophomore Nichele Hyman added one to help UTRGV respond with a 22-4 run to go up 67-53.
 
NDSU climbed within 70-62 with 6:38 remaining, but Peters hit two more three-pointers as part of a 9-0 run to push the game out of reach.
 
UTRGV wraps up the tournament on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with a South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a game that will be televised regionally on Spectrum Sports Alt. channel 825. NDSU faces UC Santa Barbara at 4:30. Doors open at 3:30.
 
The first 250 fans in attendance starting at 6 p.m. will receive showdown t-shirts. Fans arriving already wearing showdown t-shirts will receive a voucher for a free hot dog.

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