GEORGETOWN, Texas – R'Yani Vaughn's first career double-double helped the Southwestern University women's basketball team snap a two-game losing streak with a 63-45 win over visiting Dallas Christian College on Wednesday evening.
The 45 points that the Crusaders (0-5) scored were the fewest allowed by the Pirates (3-4) since a 48-45 victory over Texas Lutheran on Feb. 6, 2021.
Vaughn, a junior from Pflugerville, Texas, poured career-high performances in points (10) and rebounds (11) to lead her team to victory inside the Robertson Center for the first time this season.
In 22 previous games played, Vaughn had amassed 13 total rebounds, but she went off like Dennis Rodman during his heyday and nearly doubled her career total in one game.
Dallas Christian was coming off a recent contest against NCAA Division II's St. Mary's (TX) in which the Crusaders lost by just two while St. Mary's has since won an exhibition contest at NCAA Division I Sam Houston State by one on Sunday.
Comparing those scores, one would have imagined that Southwestern would have been in for a slobberknocker of a fight to come out victorious over Dallas Christian,
While the score may not show it, Southwestern had to earn the victory as neither team was able to convert their shots during the better part of the first half with the Pirates's Ellie Ward finally cracking the scoring column with her jumper with 6:56 to go in the first quarter.
Southwestern's defense coupled with Dallas Christian's inability to get a clean look at the basket saw the Crusaders down 8-0 before McKayla Washington's basket with 3:14 left in the opening stanza.
The Pirates slowly started to pull away and led by scores of 26-13 at the half and 49-27 at the end of the third quarter allowing head coach Greta Gritti to give valuable minutes to numerous players with nobody playing more than 26 minutes and a total of 14 players seeing tie on the floor.
Ten Southwestern players broke into the scoring column led by Emily Edwards' 12 points.
A night removed from tying the single-game block record, Reece Sandercock turned in another solid performance going for nine points, nine rebounds, five blocks and an assist.
Southwestern owned the battle of the boards against the undersized Crusaders by a wide margin of 65-42 as the heart of the schedule heats up heading into Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play.
UP NEXT
Southwestern has just a day off in this grueling stretch of four games in five days. Next up will be the team's first foray into SCAC play when the Pirates travel to Hughey Gymnasium in Sherman, Texas, to take on the Austin College Kangaroos at 6 p.m. CST on Friday.
The Pirates will then close out the weekend with a second game against a school from Dallas that goes by the Crusaders moniker this time being SCAC-foe the University of Dallas Crusaders on Saturday at 4 p.m. CST.
