Vaqueros beat Rattlers by 31 points

The UTRGV Women’s Basketball Team beat St. Mary’s University 73-42 in an intense game today in the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus.

The Vaqueros (3-3, 0-0 Southland) played offensively all throughout the four quarters, ensuring their win against the Rattlers (3-2, 0-0 Lone Star), who fell short in their battle against the home team.

Head coach Lane Lord said he thought the team “really came out well in the first quarter.” The team came up on top with a 24% difference in the shooting period during the first quarter.

“I mean defense, we held … during the second quarter; that’s pretty awesome,” Lord said. “The third and fourth quarter, little disappointed in our effort there, but we got the big win. We will take it and move on.”

Vaqueros graduate guard/forward Kade Hackerott totaled 18 points during the game. 

“We are always glad to win at home; that is always something that you want to do,” Hackerott said. “We know we have a tough team coming in here on Saturday that we have got to prepare for, so just cleaning up stuff on our end. We have too many turnovers every game … and that is just something that can’t happen.”

During the first quarter, the Vaqueros’ started off with a strong offense. UTRGV sophomore guard Jayda Holiman ensured the team’s first points a couple of seconds after tipoff.

The home team worked fast in their offense, leaving the Rattlers to try to catch up to them but with no luck.

Hackerott was the first on both teams to set up for a free throw after a foul was called for Rattlers senior guard/forward Stina Svilberg. Hackerott secured 2 points for the Vaqueros.

As the first quarter was coming to an end, UTRGV senior guard Tierra Trotter made the basket with four seconds left on the timer, ending the first quarter 24-10, with a Vaquero lead.

The second quarter played out with a higher intensity than the first. The Rattlers started to show their frustrations at the calls being made.

UTRGV freshman guard Sophia Zufelt took her shot during the last couple of seconds of the second quarter, ending it in favor of the Vaqueros 36-12.

As the third quarter started, it was visible that the Rattlers were done sitting back like the previous quarters. They started to apply more pressure to the home team’s defense. 

Both teams fought back and forth, with St. Mary’s University trying to catch up to the Vaqueros, but they kept falling short.

The third quarter ended 57-26 in favor of the home team.

The story repeated itself during the final quarter. The Vaqueros, having a strong offense and defense, ensured that the Rattlers were kept at bay.

UTRGV freshman guard Kayla Lorenz scored an amazing 3-pointer only two minutes after the quarter started, followed by a shot by senior forward Brianna Sanchez that brought the score to 64-26.

As the game was coming to an end, St. Mary’s freshman guard Tiara Louis made a 3-pointer in the hopes of helping her team but to no avail.

“We have got to do a great job in the next three days,” Lord said. “We have got to get [the score] up in the 80s; we can’t have 17 turnovers. The No. 1 thing against Texas State [University] will be taking care of the basketball.”

UTRGV’s next game will be at 2 p.m. Saturday against Texas State University in the Fieldhouse on the Edinburg campus.