HOUSTON — Houston Christian women's basketball hung within striking distance for most of the afternoon, but UTRGV's second-half surge and control of the boards pushed the Vaqueros past the Huskies, 65–53, at Sharp Gym on Saturday. 

HCU opened with energy, trading early threes from Madison Hurta and Grace Booth to stay tight through a 13–12 first quarter. The Huskies took brief leads in the second after buckets from Booth, Dasia Hyams, and Kamryn McLaurin, but UTRGV responded with an 11–2 run fueled by perimeter shooting and second-chance points to take a 32–27 lead into halftime. 

The Vaqueros widened the gap in the third behind Jalayah Ingram's activity around the rim and Charlotte O'Keefe's interior scoring. HCU cut the deficit to four twice, including on Booth's transition layup and Hurta's corner three, but UTRGV closed the quarter on another late push to go up 50–42. 

UTRGV controlled the fourth with back-to-back threes from Erin Maguire and Madison Huhn, stretching the lead to double digits. Despite another deep ball from Hurta and a three from Jordan Jackson, HCU couldn't slow the Vaqueros inside, where UTRGV finished with a 45–24 rebounding advantage and 20 points in the paint. 

Booth and Hurta led HCU with 11 points each, while Caesar added 8 and McLaurin provided 7 off the bench. Hyams contributed 6 points and 4 rebounds. 

The Huskies and Vaqueros will meet again quickly, heading to Edinburg for the rematch on Thursday, Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m.