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EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team recorded the first postseason victory in program history by beating Stephen F. Austin 62-54 in the first round of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) on Thursday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
UTRGV advances to the WBI Quarterfinals at Rice on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster.
 
With the win, UTRGV ties the program record for wins with 19 for the third year in a row. UTRGV also ties the program recrd for home wins with 12.
 
Additionally, UTRGV head coach Larry Tidwell is now the winningest coach in program history with 71 wins, breaking a tie for the top spot with DeAnn Craft (2003-09). Tidwell is also the winningest head coach in Lamar history. Tidwell is just the fourth head coach to be the winningest head coach at two NCAA Division I institutions, along with Texas A&M's Gary Blair (Texas A&M and Arkansas), Air Force's Chris Gobrecht (Washington and Yale) and recently retired Jane Albright (Northern Illinois and Wisconsin).
 
Senior Shawnte' Goff led UTRGV (19-13) with a season-high tying 30 points, a career-high tying 12 rebounds and three steals for her fourth double-double of the season. Junior Weslaco alum Laura Van Tilburg recorded a career-high 12 rebounds and a career-high five blocks while scoring six points.
 
Taylor Ross led SFA (25-8) with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists. Chanell Hayes finished with 10 points.
 
UTRGV forced four early turnovers to get seven shot attempts in the first three minutes and jump out to a 7-0 lead.
 
SFA pulled within 11-8 on a Riley Harvey layup late in the first, but sophomore Idil Türk buried a three to spark an 8-0 run to put UTRGV up 18-8 early in the second.
 
SFA responded by hitting four three-pointers, including two by Hayes, to go on a 16-2 run and take its first lead at 24-20 midway through the quarter.
 
UTRGV briefly regained the lead on a Goff free throw that made it 27-26, but SFA pushed its lead to five at 34-29 on a Ross layup on the opening possession of the third.
 
UTRGV answered with a 22-6 run during which time it forced nine turnovers and attempted seven more shots than SFA to go up 51-40.
 
UTRGV took its largest lead at 58-45 on four Goff free throws with 3:43 remaining.



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