KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team completed the season sweep of UMKC with a 63-52 victory on Saturday at Swinney Recreation Center.
 
UTRGV (15-9, 5-3 WAC) is now off to the best 24-game start in program history, one game ahead of last year's record-setting pace that saw the team finish with a program record .576 (19-14) winning percentage.
 
Sophomore Bernesha Peters led UTRGV with 17 points, five rebounds and two assists. Senior Shawnte' Goff posted her second double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high tying 12 rebounds. Junior Weslaco alum Laura Van Tilburg made her first-career start, scoring eight points on 4-of-5 shooting with two blocks. Sophomore Tristan Murphy scored eight points with nine rebounds. Sophomore Nichele Hyman also scored eight points, finishing with six rebounds.
 
Aries Washington led UMKC (6-15, 1-7 WAC) with 10 points and nine rebounds. Kristen Moore also scored 11 points to go with seven rebounds.
 
UMKC jumped out to a 10-2 lead before Goff hit a layup, two free throws and a jumper to make it a two-point game. After an India Johnson three pushed UMKC's lead to five, Murphy responded with two jumpers and then Hyman hit one of her own to put UTRGV up 14-13.
 
UTRGV still led by one early in the second quarter when Peters hit two threes and a layup to put UTRGV up 31-22.
 
UMKC pulled within three at 34-31 when a Moore jumper capped a 9-3 run in the final minute of the quarter, but after a pair of Goff free throws a few seconds later, Van Tilburg opened the third with a layup and then Peters hit a three to extend the lead to double-figures.
 
UTRGV led by as many as 15, going up 49-34 on a Murphy layup with 3:51 remaining in the third.
 
UMKC climbed to within seven twice, first at 54-47 on a Moore free throw and then 58-51 on a Moore jumper, but Peters hit five free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
 
UTRGV returns home on Thursday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Grand Canyon for a game that will be televised regionally on Spectrum Sports Alt. channel 825. It's BelieVe in a Cure Night. UTRGV Athletics will be selling pink t-shirts for $10 each with all profits benefiting the Renaissance Cancer Foundation. Doors open at 6.

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