EDINBURG — UTRGV and Abilene Christian treated fans to a 3-point shootout during the first quarter of their Western Athletic Conference homecoming game Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg with eight combined made 3s between the teams.
After the first, it was all Vaqueros.
UTRGV topped ACU 75-71 behind a career-high scoring performance from senior Tiffany McGarity, who poured in 30 points.
The Vaqueros improved to 9-14 overall and 3-9 in WAC competition. Abilene Christian falls to 11-13 and 5-7 in WAC. UTRGV broke a two-game skid with the win.
“Just real proud of our group — the resiliency of the team,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “You could tell before the game, their energy was really high and they wanted this homecoming victory, and they did it. We needed a win, so we’re just proud of them.”
The Vaqueros outscored the Wildcats 21-10 during the second quarter and used a 21-5 run to close the period, swinging all momentum in their favor.
Then, McGarity took over.
McGarity poured in 12 points during the third quarter and dropped a pair of assists to up her point total to 22 through the first 30 minutes. She finished with 30 on 9-for-12 shooting and 3-for-3 from long-range.
“I’m the kind of player, I just kind of let the game come to me. All season, this is my first time sitting here and that shows the depth of our team,” McGarity said about the postgame news conference. “Tonight we needed somebody to score, and I just tried to be that person. Every night, it’s going to be somebody different so I just try to fill in wherever I can, and tonight we needed somebody to score and I was happy that I was able to pick my team up and offer us that.”
Freshman post Charlotte O’Keefe, the reigning WAC women’s basketball freshman of the week, came down with eight rebounds and three devastating blocks during key moments to help preserve UTRGV’s lead. She battled all four quarters in man-to-man defense against ACU post Addison Martin.
“(Martin’s) a really good player, and I knew they were probably going to look towards her when they needed some points. The blocks just came. I was trying to play straight up and I had a height advantage on her, so it just went in my hands,” O’Keefe said.
Mele Kailahi added 14 points and four rebounds for the Vaqueros. Jena’ Williams scored nine points and delivered six assists.
The Vaqueros are set for a road trip to Utah next week for matchups against Southern Utah at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Utah Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday. Both games are available to watch online at ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming service.