Women’s Basketball Fights Back but Falls Late at Houston Christian

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s basketball team fought back from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit but fell, 67-64, Saturday to the Houston Christian (HCU) Huskies in a Southland Conference (SLC) game at Sharp Gym.

Junior forward Charlotte O’Keefe recorded her eighth double-double as she tallied 16 rebounds, 14 points and four assists. Freshman guard Kayla Lorenz led UTRGV (9-10, 4-4 SLC) with 15 points, making a trio of three-pointers and snagging five rebounds. Freshman guard Gianna Angiolet contributed 12 points. Graduate student guard/forward Kade Hackerott finished with nine rebounds, seven points and five assists.

Tiffany Tullis paced HCU (5-12, 2-6 SLC) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Amy Cotton scored 15 points with three three-pointers and Erin Maguire added 13 points and five assists.

The Huskies started the game with an 8-0 run and kept UTRGV off the board for the first four minutes of the game. Head coach Lane Lord subbed in a pair of freshmen who made an immediate impact as Elizabeth Romer and Lorenz drained three-pointers to tie the game at 8-8 in just over 90 seconds of game clock. The teams swapped buckets to close the opening quarter knotted at 12-12.

HCU started hot in the second again, using a 7-0 run to take control. But a pull-up three from Angiolet sparked a 9-0 run for the Vaqueros as they locked in on both ends of the court, keeping the Huskies scoreless for nearly three minutes while getting to the basket with ease as they pushed the pace of play. With O’Keefe dominating in the paint and another three from Lorenz, UTRGV built its largest lead of the game at 34-28 and led by three heading to the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter followed a similar start as the first two, with UTRGV struggling to score out of the gate as the Huskies got on a roll. Angiolet was the catalyst for the Vaqueros offense again, showing her elite ability to get through traffic and finish at the hoop as she hit a reverse layup and a jumper to cut the deficit to 41-38 midway through the frame. Tullis and Cotton carried the Huskies in the back half of the quarter to give the Huskies a 49-43 lead heading to the fourth.

Senior guard Tierra Trotter dished out a beautiful assist to Lorenz to get the Vaqueros scoring early in the fourth, but Houston Christian responded and built a 10-point lead to force a timeout with 7:20 to play. Maguire hit a jumper out of the break to give the Huskies their largest lead at 58-46. Then, the Vaqueros showed their fight.

Graduate student forward Chynell Mitchell scored five in a row as she bullied her way to the basket, knocking down a tough layup through contact and making the free throw to finish the three-point play. O’Keefe banged home a three and Angiolet followed suit off an incredible save-turned-assist by O’Keefe from the baseline. O’Keefe then knocked down another three to put UTRGV on top, 64-63, with 1:06 to play.

Houston Christian benefitted from some late foul calls against UTRGV and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line to secure the win.

The Vaqueros return to the UTRGV Fieldhouse for their next two games, starting with a 6:30 p.m. game against Nicholls on Thursday.