EDINBURG – It took longer than they would have liked, but the Sam Houston women's basketball team is in the win column in WAC play with a 64-50 win over UTRGV on Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
The Bearkats (6-12, 1-6 WAC) took the lead early in the second quarter and never gave it back, picking up their first win in league season and the program's first-ever victory in WAC play, snapping a 6-game losing streak.
Madelyn Batista was the main culprit against the Vaqueros (7-11, 3-3 WAC), putting together her fifth double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds. She got plenty of help with seven Kats finding the scoring column, including
Courtney Cleveland (16 points) and
Faith Cook (14 points) each reaching double figures.
UTRGV was led by graduate transfer Taylor Muff, who finished with a game-high 26 points on 12-for-22 shooting and seven rebounds.
The win comes at the conclusion of a tough road trip in the span of just five days for the Kats that included games at New Mexico State.
The Kats trailed by a point after one quarter, but opened up the second period on a 12-0 run, keeping the Vaqueros off the board for more than six minutes until a jumper by Muff with 3:56 left in the half.
Telemaque's third score of the game pushed the lead to 29-16, but UTRGV closed out the half on a 7-0 run with all the scoring coming from Muff, cutting into the Bearkat lead to make it 31-25 after 20 minutes of play.
UTRGV carried that momentum over into the third quarter, scoring the first seven points of the period to cut the Bearkat lead to 33-32; however, a pair of free throws from Cook on the next possession got Sam Houston going, sparking a 15-2 run to close the quarter for the Kats as they took a 48-34 led into the final period.
The lead would never be any less than 12 at any point of the fourth quarter.
Sam Houston will now return home for a pair of games at Johnson Coliseum this week, beginning Thursday against reigning WAC champion and current league leader California Baptist on Thursday.
The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff and will be aired on ESPN+.
