Shawnte’ Goff pushes the pace in tonight’s game in the Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus. UTRGV won 90-38 against Texas Lutheran University.
UTRGV strung together a pair of big home wins this week. Tonight, they welcomed NCAA Division III opponents Texas Lutheran University, defeating the Bulldogs 90-38.
Five Vaqueros reached double digit points. The offense was balanced and scoring came from the starters, like Hildur Kjartansdottir, who scored 12, as well as reserves like freshman Anushka Maldonado with 10.
The assists piled up with the winners recording 21 helpers. Head Coach Larry Tidwell praised this style of play, stressing it’s no mistake.
“It’s what we work on in workouts with reading and stuff,” Tidwell said. “We do not have a selfish team and I’m really proud of that. Good things are going to happen if we continue to play like that.”
Point guard Shawnte’ Goff led all scorers with 17 points. She also added a game-high of seven assists. Center Mary Savoy grabbed 12 rebounds, nine on the offensive half to go along with her 15 points and five steals.
After her double-double, she described the performance as just another day at the office.
“It takes a lot of effort and focus to get the job done,” the Washington state native said. “Basically, it’s a job; it’s what you have to do.”
Despite a strong win in consecutive games, there was still a sense that the team is not yet satisfied. Savoy made sure to mention the work still being put in.
“It’s the beginning of the season, we still have a lot more work to do,” she said. “We’re still getting a feel for each other playing. There’s always room for improvement.”
Idil Türk shoots the ball in tonight’s home game against Texas Lutheran University. The Vaqueros won 90-38.
Tidwell echoed the statement about work still to be done. The Vaqueros improve to 4-1 but a tough part of the schedule looms.
“We haven’t even scratched the surface yet, we have a lot of polishing to do,” Tidwell said. “It’s always good to get a win, but we got a hard road ahead, Eastern Michigan [University], an WNIT team from a year ago; Santa Barbara, who are always tough over there; come back, play TCU away; Oklahoma State and Kansas State [University] away. Yeah we got our hands full.”
The women’s team will be road warriors during a long trip. Seven straight away games will test the squad as they strive to keep the wins coming.
Before the Texas Lutheran game, on Monday, UTRGV powered through NCAA Division III opponents Concordia University 90-44. Leading the attack for the Vaqueros was Savory, scoring 22 points. Savory grabbed nine rebounds, with four of those being on the offensive side of the ball.
Goff added 19 of her own, and seven assists.
The Vaqueros three-point game was also working Monday with 12 three-point FGs going down. Bernesha Peters made three from long range, Goff had five. Maldonado, from Roy, Wash., made both of her attempts.
The twelve three-pointers were tied for the third most in a single game in school history.
The next time fans can catch the women at home is Dec. 17 when they host Incarnate Word University. It will be the second meeting of the year, the first coming Dec. 3 in San Antonio.
