UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros (16-10, 13-4 Southland) at McNeese Cowgirls (22-4, 16-1 Southland)
Lake Charles, Louisiana; Thursday, 7:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Jalayah Ingram leads UT Rio Grande Valley into a matchup with McNeese after a 15-rebound outing in UT Rio Grande Valley’s 72-70 loss to the Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks.
The Cowgirls have gone 9-1 in home games. McNeese ranks second in the Southland with 11.3 offensive rebounds per game led by Dakota Howard averaging 3.1.
The Vaqueros are 13-4 in conference play. UT Rio Grande Valley averages 66.6 points and has outscored opponents by 1.5 points per game.
McNeese makes 40.5% of its shots from the field this season, which is 2.6 percentage points higher than UT Rio Grande Valley has allowed to its opponents (37.9%). UT Rio Grande Valley scores 14.8 more points per game (66.6) than McNeese gives up (51.8).
The Cowgirls and Vaqueros square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Howard is shooting 49.2% and averaging 13.1 points for the Cowgirls. Arianna Patton is averaging 2.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Ingram is averaging 17.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, four assists and 1.6 steals for the Vaqueros. Charlotte O’Keefe is averaging 13.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.7 blocks over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cowgirls: 10-0, averaging 70.5 points, 31.9 rebounds, 13.6 assists, 14.6 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 40.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 49.5 points per game.
Vaqueros: 8-2, averaging 68.6 points, 38.6 rebounds, 16.9 assists, 5.8 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 44.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 59.2 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.