EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team beat the University of St. Thomas (UST) 74-43 on Sunday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
 
Graduate student Madison Northcutt led UTRGV (3-3) with 14 points and a career-high 14 rebounds (five offensive) for her second double-double.Junior Megan Johnson scored 13 points with a season-high tying seven rebounds. Senior Krisynthia Sampson scored a season-high tying 10 points with seven rebounds. Senior Quynne Huggins finished with a season-high tying 10 points and a career-high four steals. Sophomore Amara Graham dished out a career-high tying seven assists with a career-high tying three steals and three points.
 
Sheridan Hopkins led UST with 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks and three steals. Bresha Orange finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
Sampson converted an early three-point play as UTRGV scored the first five points of the game en route to an 8-3 lead. Then, with the score 8-5, a Johnson layup helped UTRGV score six-straight points to take a 16-5 lead.
 
Four Alexya Castillo free throws helped UST climb to within 17-9 last in the first quarter, but UTRGV scored the next 12 points to take a 29-9 lead. While building that lead, UTRGV held UST to 1-of-18 (5.6 percent) shooting.
 
UTRGV extended its lead to 24 twice in the second quarter, at 35-11 on a layup by senior Jameka Dowell and again on a pair of Northcutt free throws that made the score 39-15.
 
UTRGV pushed its lead to 33 at 55-22 on a Huggins layup midway through the third quarter and led by at least 24 the rest of the way.
 
UTRGV opens the Battle on the Border Tournament on Friday at 7 p.m. against Prairie View A&M. Fans can take advantage of four packs that include four tickets, four hot dogs, and four drinks for $25. Louisiana faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first game of the day at 4:30. Doors open at 3:30.

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