CHICAGO, Ill. – Junior Krisynthia Sampson scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season to lead The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team past Chicago State University 69-62 on Saturday at the Jones Convocation Center. 
 
Sampson, who led the way for UTRGV (14-14, 4-9 WAC), scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half. Junior Quynne Huggins chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds while redshirt freshman Amara Graham added 12 points.
 
Phylicia Johnson paced the Chicago State (1-27, 1-12 WAC) with 23 points and grabbed three rebounds. Destiny Harris scored 12 points while Ines Mata Boix posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. 
 
UTRGV scored eight straight points at the start of the first quarter to take the early 8-2 lead before Chicago State answered with a 12-2 run to take the 14-10 advantage at the end of the first.
 
Huggins got UTRGV within one at 16-15 after knocking down a pair of free throws with 7:51 left in the half. Chicago State extended their lead to 24-17 after getting a three-pointer from Konner Harris before taking the 28-23 lead into the half.
 
Sampson got going in the second half as she knocked down a jumper to get UTRGV within 30-25 with 7:25 left in the third quarter. Sampson later converted a three-point play that got UTRGV within 36-35 with 2:50 left in the quarter.
 
In the closing minutes of the third, Sampson tied the game at 39 with a put back layup and then junior Jameka Dowell closed the quarter with a layup giving UTRGV the 41-39 lead heading to the fourth.
 
UTRGV started off the fourth with a 9-0 run that saw Sampson hit a layup that made it 50-41 with 7:36 left to play. Sampson later made it 58-51 with another layup before adding a pair of free throws giving UTRGV its largest lead at 68-59 to put the game away.  
 
UTRGV closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 3, when it travels to Las Cruces, New Mexico to face New Mexico State University.

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