EDINBURG — The UTRGV women’s basketball team was without two of the three centers on its roster due to illness and injury in its Western Athletic Conference tilt against Texas at Arlington on Thursday.
The short-handed Vaqueros pushed the Mavericks late into the fourth quarter before ultimately falling 71-65 at Bert Ogden Arena in Edinburg.
UTRGV’s 6 foot, 4 inch junior center, Zariah Sango, stepped up in the absence of Charlotte O’Keefe and Burcu Soysal to post 11 points, six rebounds, six blocks and two assists.
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Zariah Sango (3) passes the ball against University of Texas Arlington in a WAC game at Bert Ogden Arena on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
Sophomore guard Iyana Dorsey led the Vaqueros (7-10, 1-5 WAC) with a game-high 24 points and three assists.
“Man, I’m really proud of this group. We were without our starting post player, and how about Zariah Sango, that was just fantastic tonight,” Lord said. “Really, it’s just the turnovers that beat us. … I’m proud of our group. Every conference game we’ve lost, we’ve had the lead or had a chance to win the fourth quarter. We’re going to figure it out, and once we do it’s going to be, ‘Katy, bar the door’ because here we come.”
Sango wasn’t the only Vaquero who went to work down low. Sophomore forward Deborah Ogayemi recorded an 11-point, 14-rebound double-double and came through during the second half when UTRGV needed to keep things close.
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Deborah Ogayemi (33) drives to the basket against University of Texas Arlington in a WAC game at Bert Ogden Arena on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
Junior guard Mele Kailahi scored 10 points and dished out four assists, and sophomore guard KaCee Kyle added nine points. The Vaqueros pulled within one at 45-44 midway through the third quarter.
“I think we all played really hard. I think it was definitely a battle,” Dorsey said after playing all but 13 seconds of Thursday’s game. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy and they were going to come out and hit us really hard. I think we responded well, it just didn’t go our way.”
| University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Iyana Dorsey (2) drives to the basket against University of Texas Arlington in a WAC game at Bert Ogden Arena on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, in Edinburg. (Joel Martinez | [email protected]) Joel Martinez |
Starr Jacobs led UT Arlington with a team-high 22 points, and De’Sha Benjamin added 17.
The Vaqueros turned the ball over 23 times to just 13 for the Mavericks, which proved to be the difference. Ogayemi and Sango both played the fourth quarter with four fouls, limiting their impact in the paint on the defensive end of the floor late.
UTRGV is back in action at 1 p.m. Saturday against Abilene Christian (9-8, 3-3 WAC) at Moody Coliseum in Abilene.