The UTRGV women’s basketball team scored a season-high 83 points to defeat the Texas at Arlington (UTA) Mavericks 83-73 on Wednesday at the College Park Center in Arlington for their first Western Athletic Conference win of the season.
The Vaqueros (7-7, 1-2 WAC) were led by sophomore Iyana Dorsey, who scored a career-high 31 points on 7-of-17 shooting and 13-of-15 from the free throw line. Junior Mele Kailahi scored 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting while tying a career-high with four three-pointers and four rebounds. Sophomore Deborah Ogayemi notched her second double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds while junior Zariah Sango chipped in with nine points and six rebounds.
The Mavericks (7-8, 1-2 WAC) were led by Starr Jacobs who scored 16 points with four rebounds. Kayla White scored 14 points with four rebounds. Jireh Washington score 12 points with six rebounds and five assists and Taleyah Jones added 11 points.
The Mavericks led by as many as 12 points at 25-13 in the first quarter, but the Vaqueros put together an 8-0 run in the second behind Dorsey’s three-point play and three-pointer followed by Kailahi’s layup to get within 33-31 with 3:56 left in the half.
UTA pushed their lead to 42-33 with a 6-0 run but Kailahi grabbed some of that momentum back before the end of the half with another three-pointer to make it 42-36 going into the locker room.
The Vaqueros started the third quarter with a 7-2 run to get within 44-43 with all the points coming in the paint by Dorsey and Ogayemi. Later in the quarter, Ogayemi tied the game with a layup and then junior Zariah Sango made a layup of her own to give UTRGV the 51-49 lead, which they would never relinquish.
In the fourth, Dorsey started a 9-2 run with a pair of free throws and then capped it with a three-pointer, which extended UTRGV’s lead to 69-59. After another pair of free throws by Dorsey, junior Jena’ Williams knocked down a three-pointer to give the Vaqueros their biggest lead of the night at 74-57.
The Mavericks tried to climb back into the game with an 8-0 run, but the Vaqueros made 9-of-11 free throws down the stretch put keep UTA at bay.
The Vaqueros will be back in action when they visit Tarleton at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.