HAMMOND, La. – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team rolled to a 77-54 Southland Conference (SLC) victory Saturday over the Southeastern (SLU) Lions at the University Center, recording the 10
th road win of the season in a game they led from start to finish.
UTRGV improves to 17-11 and 14-5 in SLC play, tying the second-most wins before the conference tournament in program history. The Vaqueros won 18 games before the tournament in 2016-17, a season that resulted in a program record 19 wins, a trip to the Women's Basketball Invitational and the program's first postseason victory. The other two seasons that saw UTRGV win 17 games before the tournament (2014-15 and 2015-16) also ended with postseason appearances and a program record-tying 19 wins.
Senior forward
Charlotte O'Keefe and sophomore guard
Gianna Angiolet both tied their career highs in scoring as UTRGV (17-11, 14-5 SLC) secured its 10
th road win of the season. O'Keefe scored 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting from the field and tabbed 19 rebounds with four assists. Angiolet scored 17 with a trio of three-pointers and had two assists.
Junior guard
Jalayah Ingram set a new single-season program record for free throws made (149) as she went 2-for-2 at the line while scoring eight points with eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Redshirt junior guard
Erin Maguiredished out six assists with five blocks.
Southeastern (4-22, 3-16 SLC) was led by
Mia Ramos and
Aliyah Collins, who scored 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Fatime Seck added 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
UTRGV opened the game with sharp three-point shooting, taking a 9-2 lead as Angiolet nailed two threes and Maguire added another. The lead quickly grew to 11 points as Angiolet and Ingram showed off the midrange game. The Vaqueros were solid defensively from the opening whistle, limiting SLU's scoring chances and cleaning up on the defensive boards to prevent second-chance shots. UTRGV led by as many as 13 points in the opening quarter and took a 22-12 advantage to the second.
After a wide-open layup by O'Keefe to start the second quarter, Southeastern managed a brief 4-0 run and kept the Vaqueros off the scoreboard for three minutes as the Lions defense tightened up and forced some turnovers. UTRGV found its rhythm again immediately and answered back with a 9-0 run as O'Keefe joined the three-point party and Maguire facilitated the offense well.
Freshman forward
Rylie Whitehair saw the floor early and made a layup to help the Vaqueros take a 40-22 lead into the locker room at halftime. UTRGV shot 48% from the field and 40% from three in the first half.
The third quarter was the tightest of the game. SLU used an early 8-0 run in the frame to trim the deficit to 42-30. Again, the Vaqueros responded well to the challenge. Ingram and Angiolet hit good buckets as they drove to the paint, and O'Keefe took advantage of a turnover to score on a fastbreak layup. UTRGV used a 7-0 run to build up some cushion and went shot-for-shot as the Lions attempted to rally late in the quarter, trailing 59-40.
UTRGV shot 53% from the field in the fourth quarter to put the game away. The Vaqueros took advantage of their size in the second half, turning to O'Keefe and freshman forward
Chazlyn Dettor often. The bigs combined for 18 points in the second half. Whitehair scored five in the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to help put the game away.
The Vaqueros will play their final three games of the regular season at the UTRGV Fieldhouse starting with a 12 p.m. School Day game, presented by Whataburger, Thursday. Fans can purchase single-game tickets at
UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID but will need to claim a ticket at
GoUTRGV.com/StudentTickets. Fans can learn more about game day, including parking information, maps, and the clear bag policy by visiting
RallyTheValley.com.
