EDINBURG — On a day UTRGV sophomore guard Iyana Dorsey crossed the 1,000-point scoring mark for her career, it was her defense that helped save the day for the Vaqueros.
Dorsey came up with a block and a steal that turned into a layup on back-to-back defensive possessions in overtime to help lift the Vaqueros 65-61 against the Sam Houston Bearkats on Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
It was also Senior Day for UTRGV, which honored Halie Jones, Tiffany McGarity, Burcu Soysal, Jena’ Williams and student assistant Ashleigh Lopez prior to tipoff. The Vaqueros improved to 11-16 overall and 5-11 in Western Athletic Conference play.
“It was just a gutsy performance. Sam Houston can really sit down and guard, they’re physical and faster than greased lightning, and all those things put together, but I thought we were tougher in the fourth quarter,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “We outrebounded them, played really good team defense and made a couple plays when we had to late.”
The Vaqueros entered the fourth quarter down by eight but erased that deficit to force an extra five minutes of action. Dorsey scored six of her game-high 20 points during the fourth quarter and overtime, along with the two key defensive stops when she had four fouls.
A free throw during the second quarter by Dorsey put her over the 1,000-point mark for her career after two seasons at Tarleton and this season with UTRGV.
“I just remember Coach Lord saying, Don’t get in your head,’ because I play with a lot of emotion, so when something goes bad for me it’s hard for me to just kind of let it go, but I knew to win this game that’s what I needed to do,” Dorsey said. “I was not really lucky but got lucky on those last ones, didn’t get a foul or anything. I played as hard as I could and it worked out in our favor.”
And on Senior Day, each of Jones, McGarity, Soysal and Williams chipped in after receiving ceremonial starts.
“Every one of them contributed today,” Lord said. “Burcu probably had her best game in the first half, Halie was outstanding, Jena’ was outstanding, Tiff did some really good things, too, so couldn’t be any sweeter.”
Jones was pivotal to UTRGV’s success late. She scored 10 points, came away with five rebounds, three steals and the highest plus-minus of the game at plus-19.
“It was so fun. I’d choose this any day over a blowout game,” Jones said. “It really challenges who you are as a person, as a player and as a team, and it’s nice to know going into our last two games in conference that we can overcome adversity anytime.”
Williams finished with nine points and five assists, Charlotte O’Keefe had nine points and six boards, and McGarity had six.
The Vaqueros will hit the road for their final two games of the regular season. UTRGV will face Utah Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Orem, Utah, and California Baptist at 8 p.m. Thursday in Riverside, California. The games can be streamed online on ESPN+.