EDINBURG — Iyana “Yaya” Dorsey led the Tarleton Texans in points scored as a freshman and points per game as a sophomore last season.
She transferred to UTRGV this season and became the leading scorer for the Vaqueros in her first year with the program.
Wednesday night, Dorsey dropped 27 points against her former team to lead the UTRGV women’s basketball past Tarleton 66-58 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg.
“To be honest, it’s all love. I appreciate every single one of those girls,” Dorsey said of her former team. “It was definitely a battle, but I knew we had to win just because I came from there and I don’t like losing, especially against people that want to win against you. I just stepped up and got us to where we needed to be to get the win.”
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley guard Iyana Dorsey (2) goes to the basket against Tarleton forward Elise Turrubiates (2) in a WAC game at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
UTRGV improved to 10-16 overall, 4-11 in Western Athletic Conference play and clinched a spot at this year’s WAC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas next month.
“It was a tale of two halves. First half was a struggle to score, we played great defense though. Anytime you can only give up 26 points in a half, you’re playing really good defense, but our offense was pretty anemic,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “You have to credit Tarleton for playing good gap defense. We got it going in the second half and it was fun to watch. Real proud of our effort, punched our ticket to Vegas, Yaya needs seven points Saturday for 1,000 points in her career, so a lot of good things happened tonight.”
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley guard Jena’ Williams (11) attempts a basket against Tarleton in a WAC game at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
The Vaqueros shot 21.4% during the second quarter and saw the Texans take a 26-22 lead into the locker room.
UTRGV proceeded to double its offensive output with 44 points during the second half to pull away from Tarleton behind Dorsey’s 27. She also grabbed four rebounds.
Deborah Ogayemi scored seven of her nine points during the second half to go with seven boards. She converted down low for UTRGV during their run to create separation.
Ogayemi said the team was fired up to have Dorsey’s back against her former team.
“My teammates and I, we have trust in each other. We knew this was her former school she was playing and Yaya’s our teammate. We have her back, so we knew, you play, we’re going to play,” Ogayemi said. “We’re going to get every rebound, we’re going to post, we’re going to do everything.”
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University of Texas Rio Grande Valley forward Deborah Ogayemi (33) reaches for the rebound against Tarleton in a WAC game at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
“I think Deb’s probably the biggest helper with that. She knows the nights I’m struggling to score and she’s really good at just telling me, ‘Hey, we got your back.’ That’s what this team is about,” Dorsey said. “That was another thing she helped me out with today. In the first half, I was struggling and she was like, ‘Hey, this team, we got your back.’”
Charlotte O’Keefe pulled down 11 rebounds, scored eight points and blocked two shots. Halie Jones and Arianna Sturdivant had six points apiece.
The Vaqueros are back in action with their final home game of the season against Sam Houston at 4 p.m. Saturday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse. Tickets can be purchased at UTRGVTickets.com.