CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball used a 25-point fourth quarter to pull away late as they opened up the season with a 67-49 victory over Concordia University (TX) on Friday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
 
UTRGV (1-0) had four players in double-figures as junior Quynne Huggins and graduate student Laura Van Tilburg led the way with 14 points and five rebounds each. Sophomore Megan Johnson added 12 points, six rebounds three assists and two steals while junior Krisynthia Sampson chipped in with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals.
 
Concordia's Jaela Dejean led all scorers with 19 points while also grabbing seven rebounds and Mercedes Ellison chipped in 14 points with three steals. 
 
Huggins got the scoring started in the first quarter with one of her three three-pointers giving UTRGV the early 3-2. She added another three-pointer that extended UTRGV's lead to 11-4 with 5:36 left in the quarter. Later in the quarter, a free throw by Dejean got Concordia (0-1) within 11-9 but UTRGV took an eight-point lead into the second quarter after a jumper by red-shirt freshman Amara Graham made it 22-14.
 
In the second quarter, a pair of free throws by Johnson kept UTRGV on top 27-20 but Concordia scored 20 of their 49 points in the quarter as they took a 34-33 lead into half time. 


Junior Idil Türk quickly gave UTRGV the lead in the third quarter with a layup and then a three-pointer by Huggins pushed the lead to 40-36 before Concordia got within 42-41 at the end of the third with a jumper by Dejean.
 
UTRGV took over in the fourth quarter as they opened with a 12-3 run that was capped by a three-pointer by Sampson making it 54-44. UTRGV closed out the game on a 13-5 run as they outscored Concordia 25-8 in the fourth quarter to seal the first victory of the season. 
 
UTRGV will be back in action on Saturday when they take on Trinity in their second game of the Islander Classic at 5 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center.

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