SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — Defense has been the UTRGV women’s basketball team’s calling card throughout nonconference play and they showed it again during Day 2 of the third annual South Padre Island Classic.
Despite a 71-47 loss against Bowling Green on Tuesday at the South Padre Island Convention Center, the Vaqueros’ play in a defensive slugfest against a Mid-American Conference power showed promising signs as they shift their attention to Western Athletic Conference (WAC) competition next Thursday.
Bowling Green (10-1) entered its matchup against UTRGV (6-5) averaging 84 points per game, shooting 46.8% from the field and 38.4% from long range. The Vaqueros held the Falcons to 71 points, their second-lowest scoring output of the season, 41% shooting from the field, their third-lowest shooting performance in 11 games, and a season-low 17.6% shooting from deep.
The game against Bowling Green was UTRGV’s fourth against a top 50-ranked opponent in the Ratings Power Index (RPI).
“We really challenged ourselves in the nonconference and I think we’ve really grown. I think we’ve gotten better and better,” UTRGV head coach Lane Lord said. “Defensively, again, I thought we were just outstanding. (Bowling Green) averages 90 points a game. They’re an offensive juggernaut. We got a three-point game with three minutes to go in the third quarter, then we just couldn’t buy a bucket after that. … That’s a really good team, and we’re a very good team too, so we’re excited. I couldn’t be happier for this group because we got a lot of basketball ahead of us and we’re going to beat a lot of teams this year. If we can do the things that we did against these Power 5’s, we can do that against these WAC teams.”
| UTRGV Vaqueros’ Halie Jones (24) moves the ball away from ball Bowling Green Falcons’ Elissa Brett (5) Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, during Day 2 of the South Padre Island Classic at the South Padre Island Convention Center.(Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald) Denise Cathey |
UTRGV finishes 1-1 at this year’s South Padre Island Classic after picking up a 72-60 win over Boise State on Monday. Bowling Green went 2-0 over the two days with a 91-60 victory against Texas A&M-Commerce on Monday.
Halie Jones and Deborah Ogayemi led UTRGV with nine points apiece. Mele Kailahi and Zariah Sango had six, while KaCee Kyle, Tiffany McGarity and Charlotte O’Keefe all scored five points.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Kailahi and a bucket inside from Ogayemi pulled the Vaqueros within three at 31-28 at the beginning of the third quarter, but that was as close as UTRGV would get.
| UTRGV Vaqueros’ Deborah Ogayemi (33) ducks behind the guard of Bowling Green Falcons’ Allison Day (21) to score Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022, during Day 2 of the South Padre Island Classic at the South Padre Island Convention Center.(Denise Cathey/The Brownsville Herald) Denise Cathey |
Next for UTRGV is its conference opener against rival New Mexico State (5-7) on Dec. 29 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in Edinburg. The Vaqueros then host Seattle (0-9) on Dec. 31.
“We’re hungry. That’s really the word — hungry,” Jones said. “Nothing’s better than conference play. It’s personal, it’s fun, just some dogs getting after it.”
“We’ve been working hard since June looking forward to conference play so we’re excited and ready,” Ogayemi said.
Tickets can be purchased at UTRGVtickets.com. The games can also be streamed online at ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming service.