UTRGV women’s basketball cruises past St. Mary’s

EDINBURG — Just over a year ago, the UTRGV women’s basketball team hosted NCAA Division II member St. Mary’s and lost at home by six.

On Saturday, the Vaqueros welcomed the St. Mary’s Rattlers back to the Rio Grande Valley and took care of business as they dominated the nonconference contest from start to finish for a 73-42 win at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.

The win sends the Vaqueros to 3-3 overall while the Rattlers drop to 3-2.

“I thought we really came out well in the first quarter and played really good basketball, shot it well at 57%. Then we kind of really struggled to score, had some unforced turnovers, but defensively, we held them to two (points) in the second quarter, that’s pretty awesome,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “Third and fourth quarter, a little disappointed in our effort there, but we got the big win. We’ll take it and move on.”

Graduate student forward Kade Hackerott scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Vaqueros, junior post Charlotte O’Keefe had 11, and guards Ja’Shelle Johnson and Sophia Zufelt both finished with eight points each.

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley guard Kade Hackerott (5) drives to the basket against St. Mary’s University in a non-conformance game Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected])

The Vaqueros held the Rattlers to just 12 first half points and two in the second quarter.

Lord liked the start and defense from the Vaqueros but felt they could have put together a stronger second half offensively after finishing with 17 turnovers.

The Vaqueros finished shooting 39.4% from the field and 29.6% from 3-point range.

“We’re always glad to win at home, it’s always something you want to do but also not sitting on it too much. We know we have a tough team coming in here on Saturday that we’ve got to prepare for, so just still cleaning up things on our end,” Hackerott said. “We have too many turnovers every game, me included, and that’s just stuff that can’t happen. We need to get going from 3 a little more, so still just focusing on our game, perfecting how we play and focusing on us.”

UTRGV returns to the court after Thanksgiving for a nonconference matchup against Texas State (2-3) at 2 p.m. Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.

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