SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — The UTRGV women’s basketball team tipped off the third annual South Padre Island Classic against Boise State and lost its leading scorer Iyana Dorsey momentarily during the first quarter due to two early fouls, then she exited for good after an injury in the second quarter.
The Vaqueros stepped up in her absence to pull out a 72-60 win over the Broncos on Monday at the South Padre Island Convention Center on South Padre Island led by a career-high 16 points from junior guard Jena’ Williams. UTRGV improved to 6-4 overall with the victory.
“It was just a complete game on both ends of the floor. We’ve been playing great defense, but our offense has kind of lagged behind, but tonight, we kind of put it all together, I thought,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “It was just a great team effort. We lose our leading scorer early in the game, and then people had to step up and Jena’ had a career-high tonight — she was awesome. It was kind of a trickle down effect from there, I thought we really shared the basketball well.”
Williams, who also added five assists, was one of three Vaqueros to finish in double figures. Mele Kailahi scored 13 points to go with five rebounds, three blocks, two steals and one assist. Deborah Ogayemi chipped in with 11 points and five boards.
“We got told in a timeout (Dorsey) wouldn’t return, so we all kind of knew we had to step up as a team. Yeah, I had a career-high night, but I’m not the only one who stepped up,” Williams said. “Our whole team really stepped up as a whole and made great plays. We did it tonight, but we really want her back.”
Lord said it was too early to determine Dorsey’s availability for Tuesday’s game against Bowling Green, but added the hope is to have her back in time for Western Athletic Conference play, which begins Dec. 29 for the Vaqueros.
The Vaqueros held a 33-26 advantage at the break, but Boise State came out hot to start the third quarter with the period’s first five points. UTRGV immediately answered with an eight-point run of their own to push the lead to double-digits and never looked back.
Kailahi came up big for the Vaqueros on both ends of the floor with momentum-building blocks and heads up plays offensively.
“I just fed off the energy I got from the bench. I think our bench brought a bunch of energy and it really helped me feel more confident,” Kailahi said. “I’m not really good at defense, but that means a lot to have that energy from the bench.”
The UTRGV South Padre Island Classic continues Tuesday with a 3 p.m. tip-off between Boise State and Texas A&M-Commerce. The Vaqueros will close the show with a 6 p.m. start against Bowling Green. Both games will be played at the South Padre Island Convention Center.
Bowling Green (9-1) defeated Texas A&M-Commerce (2-8) 90-61 in Game 1 of the UTRGV South Padre Island Classic on Monday.
