LAS VEGAS – Graduate student Madison Northcutt hit a layup with 17.2 seconds left to send second-seeded The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women's basketball team past seventh-seeded Seattle U 56-54 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Tournament Quarterfinals on Wednesday at Orleans Arena.
 
UTRGV (17-13) advances to the semifinals to face third-seeded CSU Bakersfield on Friday at 4:30 p.m. The winner of that game will play for the WAC Tournament Championship on Saturday with a chance to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Northcutt led UTRGV with 17 points and nine rebounds. Senior Krisynthia Sampson scored 13 points while hitting a career-high three three-pointers and grabbing eight rebounds. Sophomore Amara Graham finished with 10 points.
 
Kamira Sanders led Seattle U (3-27) with 17 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
 
UTRGV trailed by as much as 13, as Seattle U went up 33-20 with 3:50 remaining in the second quarter. UTRGV scored the next seven points to pull within 33-27 on a Graham jumper.
 
Seattle U went back up by 12 early in the third before Northcutt bookended an 18-3 run with baskets to give UTRGV a 45-42 lead.
 
UTRGV still led 47-45 early in the fourth quarter after a pair of Northcutt free throws, but Seattle U scored the next seven points to take the lead.
 
Then, with the score 54-49 with 2:37 remaining, Northcutt made a layup and senior Idil Türk hit two free throws to make it a one-point game.
 
Northcutt hit her layup to give UTRGV the lead and Graham added a free throw with eight seconds left.
 
Sampson and Graham hit threes and Northcutt hit a pair of layups as UTRGV took an early 10-6 lead.
 
UTRGV still had the lead at 16-13 on a layup by junior Megan Johnson with 1:47 left in the first, but Seattle U responded with a 12-0 run to go up 25-16.

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