The UTRGV women’s basketball team upset the Western Athletic Conference’s No. 1 team, Stephen F. Austin, 76-74 on Saturday at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches.
The Vaqueros (12-18, 8-10) ended the LadyJacks’ 32-game win streak in conference play, dating back to March 2020 in the Southland Conference.
Forward Taylor Muff led the Vaqueros with 23 points in 39 minutes. Muff made three 3-pointers and tallied six rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Sara Bershers finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, four 3-pointers, three steals and one block. Sophomore Halie Jones added 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Freshman Arianna Sturdivant scored all 12 of her points on 3-pointers during the fourth quarter.
Aiyana Johnson led SFA (26-4, 17-1 WAC) with 20 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. Stephanie Visscher and Zya Nugent each scored 17 points for the LadyJacks.
Sturdivant knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to put UTRGV up by seven at the start of the fourth quarter. SFA made six free throws to get within 61-60. Then, Sturdivant drilled another pair of 3-pointers to make it 67-63 in UTRGV’s favor.
SFA tied the game three times in three minutes late during the fourth. A steal by KaCee Kyle, a jumper from Muff and an offensive foul called against SFA allowed UTRGV to hold a 74-72 lead with time running down.
SFA tied up UTRGV on an inbounds play with 7.2 seconds remaining and got the ball back, trailing 76-74 following a pair of Muff free throws. SFA’s Johnson was fouled on a putback attempt but missed the ensuing free throws to secure the victory for UTRGV.
The Vaqueros will be the No. 8 seed at the WAC Tournament and will face No. 9 Seattle at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Las Vegas.
