Tristen Cortez EDINBURG – UTRGV Athletics faced triumphs and adversity last week as the Vaqueros Men and Women’s Basketball Teams took back-to-back losses against Grand Canyon University, while off the court the university commemorated the beginning of construction for the Vaqueros Performance Center.
Notable figures in attendance included Guy Bailey, president of UTRGV, and Val LaMantia, Texas Women’s Hall of Famer, who both took the first dig in the dirt for the center.
Travis Bush, UTRGV football head coach, said the commitment from the university’s leadership to the future of the Athletics programs will place them on top.
“The plans were in place to make this thing first-class,” Bush said, “and we have the leadership and the university behind it […] and to have the opportunity to give back to these communities and start football here for the first time has been good.”
The Vaqueros Performance Center is set to be completed by the start of football season in 2025.
On the court, the Vaqueros Men Basketball Team fell to the Grand Canyon Lopes 79-69 at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Some big moments caught the eyes of fans in the stands, like junior Elijah Elliot’s two 3-pointers that fired up the beginning of the second half.
Junior Hasan Abdul-Hakim was able to trip up the Lopes with five free-throws and a series of layups near the last minutes of the second half that pushed the Vaqueros closer to the Lopes.
Unfortunately, the 10-point chasm by the game’s end left the Vaqueros stuck on a losing streak that has persisted since their away games at the Acrisure Invitational in November.
The Vaqueros Women’s Basketball Team faced a similar struggle as they added to their losing streak after going toe-to-toe with the Lopes in Phoenix, Arizona ending up 0-6 after the match.
That game’s final score reached 63-50 with Grand Canyon maintaining a lead that carried from a 10-point uninterrupted run at the start.
The Vaqueros put up a fight regardless of the efforts of juniors Kade Hackerott and Arianna Sturdivant combining for nearly half of the Vaqueros’ points.
Nevertheless, the Lopes were undeterred as their four double-figure scorers outdid the Vaqueros’ best efforts.
The Vaqueros Men and Women’s Basketball Teams faced off against Tarleton State on Saturday; to view those results, visit www.goutrgv.com.
The teams are set to play their next games at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the South Texas Showdown on Dec. 5.
