Women’s Basketball Defeated by Abilene Christian

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s basketball team was defeated by the Abilene Christian Wildcats 59-45 Wednesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

Freshman Gianna Angiolet led the Vaqueros (3-5) with a career-high 17 points and a career-high six rebounds while also recording two assists, one block, and one steal. Graduate student Kade Hackerott picked up her second double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Payton Hull led the Wildcats (6-4) with 16 points while Bella Earle stuffed the stat sheet finishing with 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Mia Rivers finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

The game started off as a defensive battle as the Vaqueros and Wildcats were tied at three until there was 3:58 in the quarter and the Wildcats closed on a 10-3 run.

The Vaqueros started the second quarter firing as they went on an 8-2 run highlighted by threes from Angiolet and sophomore Madison Huhn to tie the game at 15.

Angiolet scored five of the final seven points in the half for the Vaqueros to bring her first-half total to 14 as she shot 5/6 from the field and 4/5 from three-point range. Her previous career-high was 12 points.

Junior Charlotte O’Keefe scored five of the first seven points in the third for UTRGV as they opened the quarter on a 7-1 run in the first minute before the Wildcats took control and closed the quarter on a 15-3 run.

The Vaqueros and Wildcats traded buckets to start the fourth before the Vaqueros went on a 6-0 run in the final 4:04 which saw Hackerott score two points to pick up her double-double.

Up next, the Vaqueros will open up Southland Conference play as they host Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 2 p.m. in the first game of a single-admission doubleheaders with the men’s basketball team, which hosts Lamar at 4:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com. Current UTRGV students receive free general admission with their student ID. All fans need to follow the clear bag policy, details of which can be found at GoUTRGV.com/ClearBag. The party starts in Schlotzsky’s Vaquero Village at 1 p.m.

Fans can watch domestically on ESPN+ or internationally via Southland International.