EDINBURG — UTRGV’s first shot of its nonconference game against Houston Baptist was a made 3-pointer from sophomore guard Jena’ Williams.
Seeing the ball roll through the net on the opening possession set the tone for a good shooting night from the Vaqueros, as they hit 11 from behind the arc to roll to a 67-58 victory over Houston Baptist on Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
It marks the Vaqueros’ second win of the year to kickstart a seven-game homestand.
“I thought we played one of our better games this year. We certainly shot the ball a lot better making 11 threes,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “We’ve been really looking for that. Jena’ started us off, hit her first two, and we needed her to score more. We moved her over to the two-guard position, and I think it really helped us.”
UTRGV opened with 4-for-6 shooting from long-range during the first quarter to take an 18-15 lead after 10 minutes. Williams’ drilled a pair of 3-pointers, while Halie Jones and KaCee Kyle joined in on the hot start, hitting from deep.
“Seeing the first two go through, the basket gets really big, so every shot after that you feel like it’s going in,” Williams said. “When anybody hits a couple in a row, energy for the whole team takes off and everybody is going to start hitting.”
Forwards Sara Bershers and Taylor Muff then took over to deliver a strong second quarter which allowed UTRGV to extend its lead before the half. Bershers started with a 6-0 run by herself and finished with 11 second-quarter points. Muff battled inside to post eight points and five rebounds during the first half.
“We just needed to put the ball in the hole,” Bershers said of her second-quarter surge. “Coach always says, ‘players make plays,’ so that was really the main thing. My teammates did a great job of finding me. Jena’ found me multiple times for wide open 3s.”
Lord’s starting unit featuring three guards in Kyle, Williams and Maria Llorente went to work attacking the heart of the Houston Baptist defense, which opened the floor for sharpshooting from the rest of the Vaqueros. UTRGV shot 42.3% on 3-pointers.
Bershers finished with a game-high 23 points and eight rebounds, while Williams added 13 points on 4-for-6 shooting from distance. Muff scored 10 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
Even in the victory, UTRGV suffered a couple of key losses as Kyle and Llorente sustained ankle injuries on back-to-back plays during the third quarter. Neither returned.
The Vaqueros will be back in action against Incarnate Word at 1 p.m. Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg. UTRGV is scheduled to host rival Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5 p.m. next Tuesday at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg as part of the South Texas Showdown rivalry series. It’s part of a double-header as the UTRGV men’s basketball team takes on Texas Southern at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday also at Bert Ogden Arena.
