EDINBURG — The UTRGV women’s basketball team entered the fourth quarter of its home opener against Northern Colorado on Tuesday trailing by five points.
Then, Halie Jones happened.
The junior exploded for 16-second half points and four made 3-pointers during the fourth to help lift the Vaqueros 61-55 over the Bears at the UTRGV Fieldhouse to start their home slate with a win.
While Jones hit key buckets to spark UTRGV’s comeback during the second half, fellow guard Iyana “Yaya” Dorsey was feeling it throughout with a game-high 27 points. She scored 14 during the first half and 13 more during the second on 9-of-17 shooting. UTRGV improved to 2-1 overall.
“That’s what you call a grinder. We had very few shots made in the first half, Yaya (Dorsey) kind of saved us in the first half and got us going,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “We continued to fight, played good defense all night long and Halie came to the rescue in the fourth quarter and Yaya made her free throws down the stretch. It was a great team-win.”
The junior Jones drilled three of her fourth-quarter 3s from the left corner and the fourth from the left wing. Her last 3 went through the hoop with 32 seconds remaining and gave the Vaqueros a 57-53 lead. Jena’ Williams assisted Jones on three makes and Tiffany McGarity on the other.
“It just starts on defense for me. I’ve always said I’m just a hard-worker, grinder — I’m the person that does the dirty work for the team,” Jones said. “I think after I had those free throws to end the third, I finally saw it go through the hole and that’s where my confidence started to grow from. After that, it was easy. Wasn’t thinking, just shooting, playing basketball.”
Junior guard Mele Kailahi fouled out but had a big night on the boards with a team-high nine rebounds and freshman post Charlotte O’Keefe had four points and six rebounds.
Dorsey, a sophomore transfer from Tarleton, paced the Vaqueros offensively with five 3-pointers of her own. She also hit 4-of-5 free throws down the stretch to seal the UTRGV victory.
“I know that the team was kind of putting a target on me and blocking out our shooters, and in order for me to get other shooters open, you have to attack gaps. With that being said, that’s what I had to do. They were going under the screen, so Coach always tells me if anybody ever goes under the screen, shoot the ball and that’s exactly what I did,” Dorsey said.
The Vaqueros are set to head to Kansas for two nonconference road games against Big 12 opponents. UTRGV will take on Kansas State at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Kansas at 2 p.m. Sunday. Both games can be streamed online through Big 12 Now on ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming service.
