EDINBURG – Sophomore
Megan Johnson scored a career-high 31 points to lead The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team back from a 17-point deficit to beat The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) 70-58 and clinch the Battle on the Border Tournament Championship on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
UTRGV is now a 8-2 for the first time in program history
Johnson earned the Tournament Most Valuable Player award and is joined on the All-Tournament team by juniors
Quynne Huggins and
Jameka Dowell. During the tournament, Johnson averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Huggins averaged 17.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Dowell averaged 4.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.
In this game, Johnson became the first UTRGV player to score 31 points since Nov. 29, 2014, when
Shawnte' Goff scored 31 points against Houston Baptist. The 31 points ties for the 11
th-highest single-game total in program history. Johnson went 12-for-20 from the field, tying for the eighth most field goals made in a game in program history. Johnson also had eight rebounds, a career-high tying four assists and three steals without a turnover.
Huggins scored a career-high tying 17 points with four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Crystal Chidomere led UTSA (2-6) with 24 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals.
Carlie Heineman scored 15 points.
There were four lead changes and fives ties over the first five minutes. UTRGV went up 12-10 on a Huggins three before UTSA went on a 31-12 run to take a 41-24 lead with 1:03 remaining in the second quarter.
Johnson responded with a jumper, and that's when the UTRGV offense exploded, going on a 38-13 run over the next 18 minutes. During that time, Johnson scored 25 points while UTRGV went 15-for-29 from the field and forced 11 turnovers.
Johnson scored her final 10 points during a 14-0 run that capped the 38-13 outburst and put UTRGV up 62-54 with 3:08 to go.
For the game, UTRGV scored 20 points off of 15 UTSA turnovers.
UTRGV is back in action on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at North Dakota State.
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