Nathaniel Puente 
The Nueces and Rio Grande River are long-time rivals. Each have served as Texas’s border with Mexico, host prosperous port cities, and both played an important role in the Mexican-American War. More importantly, the areas around the rivers host the components of the South Texas Showdown, UTRGV and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Well, our South Texas Rivals invited us to a little tournament over the weekend to see who’s in charge of the Nueces Strip.
UTRGV opened the Islander Invitational against North Dakota State. An action-filled game ensued with the lead changing nearly a dozen times in the First Half. Jordan Jackson contributed big to that, with 15 points in the half, which UTRGV led 32-31 going into halftime. The Second Half was another story, though, as the Bison went on a tear, taking the lead early on and never relinquishing it. North Dakota State takes this one 76-70.
The following game saw UTRGV take on Stony Brook. The Vaqueros fell behind early and found it tough to make a comeback. Early in the second half, the game was tight but the Seawolves took control with not one, not two, but three consecutive free throws as they ran away with this one 69-58.
So, they missed their first two shots but there’s still one more chance at the line against rival Texas A&M Corpus-Christi in the South Texas Showdown. The Islanders come into this one looking for their first win on the season. They open the scoring with a nice three-pointer from Jashawn Talton. UTRGV would rebound with their own three-pointers to keep it tight, that one courtesy of Connor Raines, but Corpus Christi would control the rest of the first half following a Myles Smith layup that followed 4 minutes of no scoring. The game was pretty much over from there as the Islanders never gave up the lead, winning this one 63-55.
Tough trio of losses there, but UTRGV does have a string of four-straight home games coming up on the schedule. Another team was already defending home court.
The Bulldogs opened the scoring here with a three from Tara Molina, but that was their only highlight on this night as the Vaqueros went on a tear, doubling Texas Lutheran’s point total by the end of the first period. UTRGV exploded with points the rest of the way, finishing this one winning 98-46.
It’s the 4th-most points scored in program history, technically the most points scored by the Vaquero Women’s Basketball team, which is good. Because records are meant to be broken. Here’s something that sounds like a broken record, volleyball has had a tough time living up to their expectations from previous seasons, but a win in their final regular season game would seed them 4th for the WAC tournament.
Now, UTRGV is playing Chicago State here. The Cougars only have one conference win all season, so consider this game as practice for the tournament. Unsurprisingly, UTRGV easily won the first set, then the second set, and the third set to pick up the 3-0 sweep. UTRGV’s next challenge comes at the WAC tournament, where they’re seeded 4th and are taking on 5th seeded host, Utah Valley.
UTRGV Cross Country ran over to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the NCAA South Central Regional. Abraham Chirchir’s 6th place finish helped UTRGV finish 7th of the 22 schools. Chirchir’s performance sends him to compete in the 10k run at the NCAA championship later this week.
Speaking of things moving fast, a quick shoutout to my favorite sport. The 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series closed out last night with Kyle Busch taking the checkered flag and his second career championship. Whether you love him or hate him, he’s one of the best of all time. It’s been a thrilling decade, but I’m looking forward to the 2020s for sure.
Click on the video below to watch the segment.
