The UTRGV women’s basketball team fell 65-52 to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds on Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) game at the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah.
Sophomore Charlotte O’Keefe and junior Kade Hackerott led UTRGV (6-23, 5-15 WAC) with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Hackerott tabbed nine rebounds while O’Keefe added six. Junior Tierra Trotter scored 10 points and had two steals.
Southern Utah (8-21, 6-15 WAC) had four in double-digit scoring, led by Ava Uhrich’s 20 points. Daylani Ballena and Samantha Johnston both had 14, and Shiho Isono scored 11. Uhrich led the team with nine rebounds.
Defense was the story of the first half as both teams caused some turnovers and kept the opposing offense at bay. UTRGV took an early 10-5 lead after Hackerott and Trotter banged home three-pointers. But Southern Utah’s defense kept the Vaqueros off the board for the final half of the opening quarter and held a 15-10 lead at the quarter break.
O’Keefe sparked the Vaqueros offensively in the second quarter, knocking down a pair of three-pointers to tie the game at 18-18. Trotter and Hackerott continued to play tough as UTRGV outscored the Thunderbirds 10-6 through the first five minutes of the frame. Hackerott brought down a good defensive rebound and hit a floater on the other end to give the lead back to UTRGV, 22-21. Defenses controlled the closing minutes of the half and after a late three-pointer from freshman Jayda Holiman, Southern Utah took a 28-27 lead into the locker room.
Southern Utah opened the second half on a 6-0 run and started slowing down the pace of the game to eat clock. Hackerott’s aggressive play sent her to the charity stripe twice to chip away at the lead, but the Thunderbirds started making shots at a high efficiency to open up a 39-30 advantage. O’Keefe and Hackerott kept the Vaqueros pushing, and they got a pair of late threes from Faith Phillips and Holiman. O’Keefe blocked a shot that led to a fastbreak layup for graduate student Ashton McCorry to give UTRGV some late momentum, but the Thunderbirds led 51-44 heading to the fourth.
The Thunderbirds controlled the pace and time of possession in the fourth to take a lead as large as 13. The Vaqueros kept fighting hard, with McCorry hitting a jumper and Trotter adding a late three to get within seven, but Southern Utah was able to put the game away.
