RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women's basketball team locked up the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the Southland Conference (SLC) Basketball Championships with a 71-64 victory over the East Texas A&M (ETAMU) Lions Saturday in front of 1,509 fans at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Four Vaqueros reached double figures in scoring to push UTRGV (18-12, 15-6 SLC) to victory in a competitive game. On Senior Day, senior forward
Charlotte O'Keefe recorded her 14
th double-double with 17 rebounds, 15 points, seven assists and one block. Junior guard
Jalayah Ingram scored 22 points with nine rebounds and four assists while shooting 8-of-9 at the free throw line. Freshman forward
Chazlyn Dettor added 15 points with eight rebounds and redshirt junior guard
Erin Maguire scored 14.
Four Lions also hit double figures in scoring.
Rezia Castillo led ETAMU (13-15, 9-12 SLC) with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Reza Po added 16 and was 3-for-5 from three while
Ahmya Boyce scored 13 with two steals.
Nina Horvath scored 10 with four rebounds.
ETAMU shot the lights out in the opening quarter to hold a 23-20 lead after the first 10 minutes of action. The Lions were 5-for-7 from behind the arc and shot 61% from the field to control the quarter. The Vaqueros found success driving to the basket to keep the game within reach. Ingram was the spark for UTRGV, scoring 13 points in the first quarter with three trips to the charity stripe, where she went 5-for-5.
UTRGV opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to jump out to a 26-23 lead. O'Keefe knocked down a three-pointer and Maguire showed her footwork to beat a defender and hit a turnaround jumper to put the Vaqueros on top. But the Lions responded well and kept UTRGV off the board for three minutes to regain the lead. The teams swapped scores through an exciting close to the half until the Vaqueros took control in the last two minutes. They capped the quarter the same way they started it, with a 6-0 run to head to the locker room with a 38-36 advantage.
The Vaqueros were sharp in the third quarter to get a handle on the game. ETAMU scored four quick points, then UTRGV's defense locked things up and kept the Lions scoreless for almost four minutes. The Vaqueros went on an 8-0 run in that stretch, growing the lead to 49-41.
Again, the Lions showed good fight to make things interesting with a 4-0 run. O'Keefe drained her second three of the day to fire up the Vaqueros faithful. The final 10 points of the third quarter were scored at the free throw line and UTRGV took a 57-50 lead to the fourth.
Ingram finished the first half with 20 points, but she was called for four fouls in the third quarter alone, hampering her production. She fouled out with just under seven minutes to play and the Vaqueros leading, 61-56.
Dettor showed her low-post abilities to score the first four points of the fourth and added a nice drive to extend the lead to 65-58 after ETAMU got within three. Maguire had a nice quarter to help UTRGV put the game away, playing aggressive defense and showcasing her midrange game with the jumper. Dettor did well rebounding and moving the ball around to get the offense rolling, helping an 8-0 run that grew UTRGV's lead to nine and put the game out of reach.
The Vaqueros will play their final regular season game at 4 p.m. Monday against the UIW Cardinals at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. 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.
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