EDINBURG – Four East Texas A&M University women's basketball players reached double digits on Saturday afternoon, but the UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros defended home court in the UTRGV Fieldhouse with a 71-64 win over the Lions.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 13-15 on the season and 9-12 in Southland Conference play with just one more regular season left. The Vaqueros improve to 18-12 overall, 15-6 in Southland play, and are 3-0 over the Lions over the last three seasons.
 
The Lions have moved into a tie for seventh with Nicholls going into the regular season finale between the two teams on Tuesday. The winner will be the seventh seed, while the losing team will be the eighth seed in next week's Southland Conference Tournament.
 
On Saturday, the Lions had a 16-11 and extended it to as much as six in the first quarter. The Vaqueros scored the first six points of the second quarter as they went on to increase their lead to three.
 
The Lions had a 36-32 lead with 2:21 left in the game, but UTRGV closed the half on a 6-0 run to lead by two at the break. The Vaqueros opened up their lead to a game-best eight points in the third, with a 9-3 run to start the half.
 
As part of a 6-2 run over a stretch of three minutes, the Lions pulled to within three in the fourth quarter, but then they were kept scoreless for the three minutes as UTRGV increased its lead back to seven and the margin was not less than five points the rest of the game.
 
Making her second start of the season, both against the Vaqueros, Rezia Castillo (Clear Brook) led the team with 17 points as well as eight rebounds, while Reza Po (San Bruno, Calif.) added 16 points, Ahmya Boyce (Newport News, Va.) scored 13, and Nina Horvath (Oberwart, Austria) tallied 10 points off the bench.
 
Jalayah Ingram scored 22 points for the Vaqueros in 29 minutes and did not play the last seven minutes of the game due to foul trouble. Charlotte O'Keefe added 15 points and 17 rebounds.
 

POST GAME INTERVIEW
 
UP NEXT
The Lions head to Nicholls on Tuesday at 11 a.m. to close out the regular season with the winner receiving the seventh seed in next week's Southland Tournament.