RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Junior forward
Charlotte O'Keefe recorded a career-high 22 rebounds Monday to grow her career total to 673 and break The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball program record as the Vaqueros fell, 58-50, to the Nicholls Colonels in a Southland Conference (SLC) game at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
O'Keefe passed
Naima Williams for the program record as she reeled in a pair of rebounds in the final thirty seconds of Monday's contest. Williams totaled 671 career rebounds from 1997-2003. O'Keefe now boasts 265 rebounds this season and is 30 away from breaking the single-season program record of 294 currently held by
Madison Northcutt (2018-19).
O'Keefe also scored seven points, dished out a season-high five assists, and tabbed two steals for UTRGV (10-11, 5-5 SLC). Freshman guard
Gianna Angiolet led UTRGV with 14 points while recording four rebounds and a pair of steals. Graduate students
Chynell Mitchell and
Kade Hackerott both scored 10 points and Hackerott added six rebounds.
Elli Garnett led Nicholls (13-6, 6-4 SLC) with 16 points.
Malaya Jones scored 11 and
Daelyn Craig added 10 points with three steals.
The Vaqueros wasted no time taking control of the first quarter, opening the game with a 7-0 run and preventing the Colonels from scoring from the field for the first seven minutes of action. The sharp-shooting freshman duo of Angiolet and
Kayla Lorenz drained three-pointers as part of a 14-1 run for the home team to open the game.
Nicholls leaned on its speed to quickly flip the script in the final four minutes of the quarter and carried that momentum to the second. The Colonels used active hands on defense to force a handful of turnovers and kept the Vaqueros scoreless for roughly seven minutes of game time. In that stretch, Nicholls went on a 16-0 run to erase UTRGV's first quarter lead and jump on top, 17-14.
UTRGV responded to the defensive pressure with solid ball movement to create shots and regained a 23-19 lead late in the second quarter. Nicholls went back on top after a three-point play from Swift, but Hackerott nailed a pair of free throws to give UTRGV the 26-25 lead at halftime.
Angiolet hit a three to get the second half started, then Mitchell's moves in the paint put UTRGV up 31-25. The Vaqueros took advantage of the Nicholls defense being overly aggressive with successful trips to the charity stripe to hold a 35-30 lead late in the third quarter. But the Colonels closed the half on a 9-0 run and had a four-point lead going to the fourth.
Hackerott opened the quarter with five quick points for UTRGV, pumping her fists after knocking down a deep three-pointer to get within 41-40. But the Colonels defense forced a flurry of turnovers that were turned into points, scoring 19 off turnovers in the fourth to lead by as many as 11 points.
The Vaqueros battled until the final horn blew, but the Colonels held on. UTRGV's next game will be Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Northwestern State in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
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