RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team brought the heat on a cold night as it picked up a key Southland Conference (SLC) win Thursday, 59-37, over the Incarnate Word (UIW) Cardinals at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Graduate student G/F
Kade Hackerott led UTRGV (13-13, 8-7 SLC) with 14 points and made a career-high tying four three-pointers to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Junior forward
Charlotte O'Keefe recorded her 11
th double-double with 14 rebounds, 10 points and four assists. Sophomore guard
Madison Huhn scored a career-high 12 points on a career-high three three-pointers and senior guard
Tierra Trotter added to the day of personal bests with a career-high tying eight assists.
UTRGV's defense kept any Cardinals from scoring in the double digits.
Destiny Whitaker led UIW (14-10, 9-6 SLC) with eight points.
Dorian Norris scored seven points with a team-high seven rebounds.
Freshman guard
Kayla Lorenz picked up where she left off after drilling the game-winning three-pointer at Lamar and scored UTRGV's first points with a corner three. The Vaqueros made three shots from behind the arc as Hackerott and Huhn made big shots to have UTRGV leading, 17-10, after the opening quarter.
The Vaqueros were sharp defensively in the second quarter to grow their lead to 29-16 at halftime. Hackerott knocked down a deep three as the shot clock was running low to extend the lead to 10 points, and UTRGV cleaned up on the defensive boards to stay in control. Trotter on back-to-back possessions as she moved seamlessly through the lanes created by UTRGV's inside-out ball movement. The Vaqueros defense shut down the Cardinals offense for the final 5:14 of the half and Huhn hit a late three for the comfortable advantage.
UIW's scoring drought continued in the second half as UTRGV rebounded well and forced several missed shots. The Cardinals scored their first points of the third at the 7:30 mark, ending a nearly eight-minute scoreless stretch. Hackerott and Huhn continued to come up big as the Vaqueros rode their momentum to a massive lead. Huhn made a three through contact and finished the four-point play, then made a tough layup on a nice half court assist from Trotter on a fastbreak to force a UIW timeout. Freshman guard
Elizabeth Romer nailed a pair of threes to help the lead grow to 28 points before UTRGV went to the fourth leading 48-22.
The Cardinals tightened up defensively in the fourth quarter, holding the Vaqueros to 11 points. UIW pushed the pace as it tried desperately to cut into the deficit, but Trotter's court vision and O'Keefe's strength in the paint kept UTRGV in control. O'Keefe tabbed her double-double with an and-1 layup and Hackerott tied her best single-game three-point performance in the final minutes of the game.
The Vaqueros will be back at the UTRGV Fieldhouse Saturday at 2 p.m. to face Houston Christian as part of a doubleheader with the men's teams which will play after. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at
GoUTRGV.com/Tickets. Current UTRGV students get into the game free with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy and photo policies, among others, details of which can be found
here. Fans will need to be mindful of the temporary changes to the Fieldhouse parking, details can be found at
GoUTRGV.com/Parking.
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