The UTRGV women’s basketball team fell short in overtime 81-76 against the California Baptist (CBU) Lancers to close out the regular season on Thursday at the CBU Events Center in Riverside, California.
Junior Tiffany McGarity led UTRGV (12-17, 6-12 WAC) with 25 points on 7-of-17 shooting while making three three-pointers and going 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Freshman Charlotte O’Keefe recorded her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Junior Mele Kailahi scored 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting with seven rebounds.
CBU (17-12, 13-5 WAC) got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Chloe Webb. Trinity San Antonio scored 16 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. Lesila Finau added 12 points with seven rebounds.
Tied at 70-70 heading into overtime, the Lancers came out and scored the first eight points of the extra period to take the 78-70 before UTRGV got on the board with three free throws. Sophomore KaCee Kyle hit a three-pointer to get within 81-76 with 24 seconds left to put the finishing touches on the scoring.
UTRGV got it going from three-point range early in the first half as McGarity knocked down a three to give UTRGV the 5-2 lead. Later in the first, the Lancers tied the game at 11-11 but a three-pointer from junior Jena’ Williams kicked off a 6-0 for UTRGV as McGarity hit three free throws to push the lead to 17-11.
In the second, graduate student Ashton McCorry got the scoring started with a three of her own before Dorsey hit another three to make it 25-13 in favor of the Vaqueros. The Lancers answered with a 10-2 run to get within 27-23 but the Vaqueros got a layup from Williams and back-to-back threes from McGarity and freshman Charlotte O’Keefe to regain momentum with the 35-28 lead.
The Lancers got things rolling in the third quarter as they put together a 7-1 run. McGarity answered with back-to-back buckets that gave UTRGV thee 44-37 lead. CBU got back-to-back three-pointers, but UTRGV answered with three straight threes of their own as Kailahi hit back-to-back and O’Keefe knocked in the third to make it 53-43.
After the Lancers cut UTRGV’s lead to 56-53 to close out the third but the Vaqueros used a 9-4 run at the start of the fourth, which was capped by a three-pointer by junior Halie Jones that made it 65-57 UTRGV with five minutes left to play in regulation.
The Lancers cut the score to 65-64 with a 7-0 run of their own and then after a couple of free throws from McGarity, CBU got buckets from Webb to tie and one from San Antonio to take the lead 7-68. O’Keefe hit a layup at the buzzer to tie the game sending it into overtime.
The Vaqueros will next head to Las Vegas for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins on Monday at Michelob ULTRA Arena.