LAKE CHARLES, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) #6 Vaqueros women's basketball team fell in a tough Southland Conference (SLC) Championships first round game, 55-53, to the #7 Nicholls Colonels Monday at the Legacy Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 
 
Junior forward Charlotte O'Keefe tied the game twice in the final 1:10 of action, first bringing the Vaqueros even at 50-50 with a pair of free throws. She battled for an offensive rebound and hit the putback layup through contact, then made the and-1 free throw to knot the contest at 53-53 with 20 seconds remaining. 
 
Britiya Curtis made the game-winning layup for Nicholls with 1.3 on the clock. 
 
O'Keefe collected her 16^th double-double of the season as she finished with 11 rebounds and 10 points. Graduate student G/F Kade Hackerott led UTRGV (16-16) with 15 points and was 3-for-5 from three with three rebounds. Senior guard Tierra Trotter added 13 points, six rebounds and two steals. Graduate student forward Chynell Mitchell finished with seven rebounds, six points and one block. 
 
O'Keefe finished the season with 400 rebounds, becoming only the ninth player in SLC history to reach that mark. She is ninth on the all-time SLC single season rebounding list. 
 
Deonna Brister led the Colonels (17-13) with 17 points. Elli Garnett scored 13 with 12 rebounds and four steals. Curtis finished with eight points and Jesslyn Jalomo added nine. 
 
The Vaqueros were the first on the board as freshman guard Kayla Lorenz knocked down a three from the wing. But points were few and far between in a defensive first quarter. Neither team scored for three minutes until Trotter raced through the Nicholls defense for a layup to put UTRGV on top, 5-2. Hackerott hit a deep three with a hand in her face to grow the advantage to 9-6, but the Colonels closed the quarter on a 4-0 run and held a 10-9 lead at the break. 
 
The physicality of the contest picked up in the second quarter. O'Keefe showed her strength to get the Vaqueros going inside. Nicholls opened up a 16-12 advantage with 5:39 in the frame, then UTRGV's defense took over. The Vaqueros were quick to the ball and disruptive down low, keeping the Colonels scoreless for nearly five minutes. 
 
UTRGV turned that momentum into a 13-0 run as the threes fell with consistency. O'Keefe's effort on a diving rebound and assist led to a Hackerott three, then Trotter swiped a steal which resulted in another Hackerott three-pointer on the following possession. Sophomore guard Madison Huhn joined the three-point party to extend the advantage to 25-16. The Vaqueros shot 50% from behind the arc in the first half and went to the locker room with a 25-19 lead. 
 
Trotter pulled up for a three with time running out on the shot clock, creating a nine-point lead early in the third quarter. Nicholls answered with a 7-0 run before Huhn hit her second three to stretch the cushion back to five for UTRGV. The physical style of the Colonels gave them an edge at the end of the quarter and they held a slim 38-36 lead heading to the fourth. 
 
Nicholls used a big three to create some momentum and gave the Vaqueros fits inside to open up a 48-40 lead with five minutes remaining in the game. UTRGV responded with a 6-0 run capped by a solid offensive possession resulting in a great move down low by Mitchell for a layup to get within two. The teams swapped scores until the Colonels put the game away. 

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