Texas Border Business
HOUSTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s basketball team fell 85-64 to Texas Southern University on Saturday at H&PE Arena in its first game of a three-game road trip.
Redshirt senior Amara Graham led the Vaqueros (2-2) with 12 points as she added three rebounds and three assists. Junior Jordan Lewis scored 10 points with three rebounds while junior Jessica Martino added 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor.
Texas Southern (1-0) had three in double-figures scoring with Ataiya Bridges leading the way with 24 points with four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Niya Mitchell recorded a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds while Quatera Limbrick chipped in with 10 points.
UTRGV scored the first four points of the game on layups from sophomore Sydney Cajero and Graham before Texas Southern answered with six straight points to take the lead for good. After a couple free throws by sophomore Halie Jones, Texas Southern closed out the first quarter on a 13-4 run to take the 19-10 lead.
Texas Southern pushed its lead to 31-18 after a layup by Bridges with 5:52 left in the second quarter but the Vaqueros answered with a 12-1 run to get within 32-30. After a Cajero layup capped UTRGV’s run, Texas Southern answered with the final seven points of the half to take the 39-30 halftime lead.
Bridges opened the scoring in the second half with a layup and a three-pointer before a layup by Jones made it 43-32. Texas Southern then opened up the scoring in the third quarter with a 10-3 run to put the game out of reach.
The Vaqueros will be back in action on Tuesday, December 8, when it travels to Corpus Christi to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m., as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union.
