EDINBURG, Texas – A low scoring affair turned into a fourth quarter battle as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's basketball team completed the season sweep over UTRGV with a 57-51 decision Thursday night in the South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union.
With a 22-20 halftime score, both teams poured in more points in the fourth quarter than they did in the entire first half, including a monster 27-points from A&M-Corpus Christi (5-4). It was carried by the explosive three-point attack as the Islanders went 5-for-7 from deep in the final 10 minutes, turning in their second straight game of shooting over 33.3 percent from beyond-the-arc.
It is what proved to be the difference maker as UTRGV (0-9) could only really attack inside where they outscored A&M-Corpus Christi 26-18. Though, the Islanders outblocked the Vaqueros 7-3 and outscored them in bench points 23-7.
Junior
Nabaweeyah McGill was one to contribute to the bench points, entering the game to score 10 points off the back of two three-pointers. She trailed senior
Violeta Verano who led the team with 11 points.
Junior
Jaeda Whitner scored all her points from deep, drilling a trio of threes in the fourth quarter to aid in the late barrage. Junior
Annukka Willstedt also nailed a pair of three-pointers to end with eight points, as did graduate
Alecia Westbrook who turned in an 8-point, 8-rebound night.
UTRGV was paced by 13-point performances from both Iyana Dorsey and Charlotte O'Keefe. Though, the latter ran into foul trouble and fouled out in the fourth.
Willstedt nailed the three at the buzzer as the Islanders got on the board first for the 3-0 lead. UTRGV bucketed a pair of layups before Willstedt struck again with another long-range missile with 5:29 on the clock. Inside shots by McGill and senior
Mireia Aguado pulled the Islanders ahead 11-8 but the late field goal by UTRGV made it a one-point game at the end of the first.
UTRGV found some fire and went up 16-13 in the second before the step-back three from Verano at the shot clock tied things up at 5:20. Both teams converted on a pair of free throws to keep things knotted before senior
Paige Allen earned the second chance layup to get the Islanders back in front. The steal and score by Westbrook extended the lead 22-18 but a foul gave UTRGV another two points from the charity strip and the teams went to the break with just a two-point separation.
The third quarter flowed similarly to the first two, with neither team creating a bigger gap than four points. A late three by UTRGV sent the game to the fourth tied at 30-30.
The Islanders fired a 5-0 run from a three and a layup from McGill and Verano to begin the fourth. Whitner upped it to 38-32 at 8:03 before the Vaqueros responded with a three of their own, their first of the game. UTRGV made it a one-point game at 6:39, but McGill and Whitner both connected from beyond-the-arc again as the Islanders led it 44-37. After some traded layups, Whitner went deep for the third time to make it a 49-41 game with 4:00 to go. UTRGV fought back within two with under a minute to play, but Verano scored four off a jumper and a pair of free throws to solidify the 57-51 win.
The Islanders have now swept the head-to-head competition in the South Texas Showdown after winning at home 69-46 in the first meeting to earn six points for A&M-Corpus Christi. They also win the home attendance point, driving in 1,363 fans compared to UTRGV's 718.
The institutions are now evened in this year's competition at 14.5 points each.
The Islanders will return home Tuesday for a morning matchup against Our Lady of the Lake. Tip is set for 11 a.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center.
NOTES
- The Islanders have defeated UTRGV three times in a row, neither team having done so since between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Islanders now lead the series 29-17 and now holds an 11-10 edge against the Vaqueros on the road.
- It is A&M-Corpus Christi's first road win of the season, and first win at UTRGV since 2019-20 when it won 59-54. That is also the last season in which the Islanders swept the two-game series after also winning at home that year 61-50.
- A&M-Corpus Christi has scored at least 50 points in every game this season. It is the first time since 2021-22 that the Islanders have scored at least 50 points in the first eight games of the season.
- It is the first time this season that the Islanders won despite not outrebounding their opponent or scoring more than 60 points.
- Verano registered her second double figure scoring game of the season and second in a row after scoring 10 in the first meeting against UTRGV, making her 11 points her season best.
- McGill submitted her third double digit scoring game of the year and second in a row, having scored 10+ points in both meetings with UTRGV this season. She entered the game leading the SLC in blocks at 1.9 and was on par after recording two tonight. She has recorded at least two blocks in five games this year.
- It marks Whitner's first time this year to have hit at least three three-pointers in a game, but third to make at least two. Last year, she made multiple three-pointers in a game 13 times and made at least a trio of them seven times to help her became the first Islander since the 2015-16 season to rank in the program's top-10 for three-point field goal percentage (.398) in a single-season.
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