VERMILLION, S.D. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team fell to the South Dakota Coyotes, 68-56, Friday at the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
The Vaqueros (1-1) were led by graduate student guard
Janette Aarnio who scored a career-high 16 points, and freshman forward
Lina Fimbo who had a career-high 10 rebounds. Aarnio shot 7-of-12 from the field and added three assists in 38 minutes, scoring 10 of her points in the second quarter. Fimbo also scored six points with two three-pointers and a block. Sophomore guard
Kamryn McLaurin scored 15 points and made 7-of-8 free throws, and graduate student guard
Erin Maguire added nine points.
Molly Joyce led South Dakota (2-0) with 12 points.
Latazia Williamson had 11 points and nine rebounds,
Bri Robinson scored 11 and made 6-of-11 at the free throw line, and
Olivia Downs added 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.
South Dakota jumped out to an 11-4 lead as Williamson scored eight of the Coyotes' first 11 points. The Vaqueros answered with a 12-0 run in under three minutes. McLaurin scored on a layup and a jumper, Maguire hit a three-pointer and a layup and added two free throws, and McLaurin made another free throw to give UTRGV a 16-11 lead. A Fimbo block and an Aarnio steal helped spark the run. The Coyotes closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 20-16.
Aarnio scored on a layup and a jumper in the first 40 seconds of the second quarter to tie the game at 20, and McLaurin followed a steal with a layup to put UTRGV up 22-20. Sophomore forward
Rylie Whitehair gave the Vaqueros a 28-27 lead on a layup, and Fimbo's three-pointer tied the game at 31 with 2:25 left. Aarnio hit a jumper to tie it again at 33, and Maguire's layup with 41 seconds left sent UTRGV into halftime with a 35-33 lead.
McLaurin picked up her third foul 40 seconds into the second half and her fourth less than three minutes later, forcing her to the bench. Junior guard
Gianna Angiolet's jumper tied the game at 37 with 7:30 left, but the Coyotes pulled ahead, and UTRGV was held without a field goal over the final 3:18 of the quarter as South Dakota closed on a 9-0 run. Aarnio's two free throws just before the end of the quarter made it 52-43 heading into the fourth.
Fimbo opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and McLaurin had a layup to pull UTRGV within seven. The Vaqueros trimmed the deficit to 60-53 on four McLaurin free throws with 4:22 to play, but South Dakota answered with a Joyce layup and a Williamson free throw to push the lead back to double digits. The Coyotes closed out the game on an 8-3 run.
South Dakota shot 45.2 percent (19-of-42) to UTRGV's 38.8 percent (19-of-49), and the Coyotes made 24-of-35 at the free throw line to the Vaqueros' 15-of-20. UTRGV committed 28 fouls. South Dakota outrebounded UTRGV 33-25 and scored 21 points off 15 Vaquero turnovers, while UTRGV scored 12 points off 17 Coyote turnovers. The Vaqueros got 13 points from their bench.
UTRGV plays at Kansas State at 12 p.m. Sunday at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kan.
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