Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
The UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team advanced to the Women’s Semifinals in the Southland Conference Basketball Championship, following a 76-67 victory over Northwestern State.
The Vaqueros will face McNeese State University.
This victory also was the Vaqueros’ 20th in the season, a new record in the program’s history. Head coach Lane Lord said the accomplishment was a “big win” for the team.
“We had a goal at the beginning of the year to win 20 games,” Lord said. “We made our goal, and we don’t want to stop there. We’re playing the best team in the league early in the morning, and we’re excited for that opportunity.
Both teams struggled to get a start in the first quarter, with the Lady Demons putting the first score on the board after a 3-pointer from Tiara Abron, a graduate guard, followed by 2 points earned by Nya Valentine, a graduate guard.
The Vaqueros responded with their own 3-pointer by Giana Angiolet, a sophomore guard, and back to back layups from Charlotte O’Keefe, a senior forward, after a pair of free throws from Northwestern’s Vernell Atamah, a sophomore forward.
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
UTRGV had its biggest lead and scoring run of the first half after a layup from Kayla Lorenz, a sophomore guard, later in the quarter.
Going into the second quarter, Northwestern went on its own scoring run of 7-2 to get its biggest lead of the match at 6 points.
Great offensive plays throughout the quarter, such as two 3 pointers from O’Keefe and Angiolet, as well as layups from Ivy Brown, a junior forward, helped the Vaqueros shrink down the gap.
As the game went into halftime, the score was still extremely tight 28-27, with the Lady Demons only having the lead by 1 point.
Coming out of the locker room, the Vaqueros were prepared to put more action on the court with O’Keefe putting in a 3 pointer, along with layups from Angiolet and Erin Maguire, a junior guard, all in just under a minute.
Throughout the third quarter, UTRGV added a total of 30 points on the scoreboard and catapulted ahead of Northwestern by 15 points in the final seconds.
Lord said the quarter showed “really good team basketball,” which is what allowed the team to score as well as they did.
“[During halftime] we talked about sharing the basketball, getting more cutters through,” he said. “And Charlotte had some great passes. [Jalayah Ingram] also really took over the game.”
Ingram, a junior guard, said she was able to play effectively due to the team’s help.
“We were just moving the ball well,” she said. “My team was just cutting and being in the right spot at the right time. So, it was just easy for me to assist them.”
Northwestern opened the fourth with a jumpshot by Abron and a 3 pointer from Valentine, then going on a 10-2 run to get closer to UTRGV at 59-52.
The Vaqueros were able to maintain a steady lead above the Lady Demons with a layup from Ingram followed by two sets of successful free throws from Lorenz and Chazlyn Dettor, a freshman forward.
Later in the frame, Valentine scored back-to-back 3 pointers followed by another from Atamah, which helped put the Lady Demons just 4 points behind the Vaqueros.
However, two pairs of free throws and a layup from Ingram in the final minute helped keep the Vaqueros on top, ending the game at 76-67.
Ingram said the match against McNeese is going to be a “dogfight,” with Lord adding the Cowgirls are a “talented” team that plays well defensively.
“We gotta do a great job, taking care of the basketball and making sure that we’re sound fundamentally,” the head coach said. “… It’s going to be a lot of mental prep.”
Next up, both the men and women’s teams face McNeese in their respective semifinal matches. The men’s team fell to McNeese 80-84. The women’s team will play at 10:30 a.m.
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
Stephen Gutierrez/THE RIDER
