Texas Border Business
CORPUS CHRISTI – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vaqueros women’s basketball team trailed by as many as 12 points before rallying to defeat the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 73-68, as part of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, on Tuesday at Dugan Wellness Center.
UTRGV (3-2) now lead the Islanders (0-4) 9-0 in the showdown standings.
Redshirt senior Amara Graham led all scorers with 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor, while going a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line, and grabbing seven rebounds. Sophomore Jena’ Williams scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting while dishing out seven assists. Sophomore Tiffany McGarity and junior Jessica Martino added nine points each.
Alecia Westbrook led the Islanders with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Jade Thompson added 18 points with six rebounds while Paige Allen chipped in with 10 points and four steals.
The Vaqueros found themselves trailing 54-42 with 2:22 left in the third quarter before closing out the third with a couple of jumpers from Graham and senior Iva Belosevic. Freshman Arianna Sturdivant opened the fourth with a three-pointer and then Graham followed with a three of her own to get UTRGV within 54-52 with 7:30 left to play.
The Islanders answered with a 9-0 run to push their lead to 63-52 with just over five minutes to play before Martino kicked off a 12-0 UTRGV run with a jumper that was bookended with a three-pointer from junior Jordan Lewis that gave UTRGV the 64-63 lead.
After Corpus Christi took the lead on a layup from Allen, Martino converted on a layup to give the Vaqueros the lead for good at 66-65 before Martino and Graham knocked down free throws to put the game away.
The Vaqueros came out of the gates in the first quarter taking the 6-0 lead after a jumper by Lewis, a layup from Belosevic, and a jumper from Williams. The Islanders battled back to with 6-4 before Williams knocked down a three-pointer to make it 9-6 UTRGV.
Corpus Christi then went on a 7-0 run that was capped by a Alecia Westbrook layup that gave them the 11-9 lead with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.
Williams knocked down another jumper to start the scoring for UTRGV in the second quarter giving them the 15-14 lead. Later in the second, Corpus Christi then went on a 19-9 run to give them their biggest lead of the half before a three-pointer by Williams at the buzzer made it 37-29.
The Vaqueros battled early in the third quarter as they got within 45-40 after free throws from Graham and McGarity before Corpus Christi put together a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the night at and setting up UTRGV’s comeback.
The Vaqueros will be back in action on Monday, December 14, when it faces off against Kansas at 7 p.m. at the Allen Fieldhouse.
The next event of the South Texas Showdown, presented by Navy Army Community Credit Union, is on Thursday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. when men’s basketball visits Corpus Christi.
