ARLINGTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team was defeated 71-55 Saturday by the UT Arlington (UTA) Mavericks in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) contest at College Park Center.
Sophomore
Charlotte O'Keefe led the Vaqueros (4-15, 3-7 WAC) with a career-high 18 points and nine rebounds while shooting 7-of-10 from the field. Junior
Kade Hackerott scored 16 and tallied nine rebounds. Junior
Tierra Trotter added six points with two steals while freshman
Jayda Holiman and senior
Zariah Sango each scored five points.
Taliyah Clark scored 22 points to lead the Mavericks (13-12, 9-6 WAC).
Gia Adams and
Avery Brittingham both reached double-digit scoring, contributing 19 and 11, respectively.
The Mavericks jumped out in the first and took control of the game as they scored the first seven points of the game. The Vaqueros got on the board with a bucket from Hackerott but the Mavericks put a 6-0 run to grab the 13-2 lead.
UTRGV cut UTA's lead late in the first after O'Keefe knocked down a jumper and hit a pair of free throws that made it 17-7.
The Mavericks opened the second with another 6-0 run to extend their lead to 23-7. Holiman made a jumper and hit a three-pointer to get UTRGV within 26-12 with 6:41 left in the first half. After a layup from O'Keefe, UTA went on a 9-0 run to push the lead to 35-14. The Vaqueros closed out the half with the final five points following a jumper and a free throw from Hackerott and a layup from O'Keefe as the Mavericks led 40-21.
O'Keefe and Hackerott continued to be the engine for the Vaqueros as the third quarter started, combining to score the first seven points of the second half and 12 of UTRGV's 17 in the third. The Vaqueros were aggressive getting to the basket and earned a few trips to the free throw line because of their effort, but UTA continued to score at a high clip and held a 60-38 advantage heading to the fourth.
Despite the deficit, UTRGV battled well to the final whistle and saw the scoring and shooting percentage improve in the fourth quarter. O'Keefe continued to clean up on the offensive boards, finishing the night with seven offensive rebounds, and the Vaqueros moved the ball around to spark the offense. Trotter nailed a pull-up three-pointer to cut the score to 67-47.
UTA did just enough to maintain the comfortable lead and put the game away.
The Vaqueros will be back in action Thursday, Feb. 22, when they host the Utah Valley Wolverines at 6:30 p.m. on Support Women's Sports Night.
Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. The party starts in Schlotzsky's Vaquero Village at 5:30 p.m.
Fans unable to attend in person can watch domestically on
ESPN+ or internationally via
WAC International.
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