WESLACO - Rain washed away last night's baseball game between Vela and Weslaco, but the key district game was back on Thursday night. The SaberCats trailed 2-0 early, before battling back to record a 5-3 win. In the process, they improved to 3-0 in district 31-6A. CHANNEL 5's Joel Villanueva has highlights from the diamond that also include Edinburg vs Edinburg North baseball and Lopez vs Donna softball.

MISSION - The Juarez-Lincoln boys soccer team is just a win away from finishing the regular season with a perfect district record. The Huskies have already wrapped up their third straight district title, but as CHANNEL 5's Ruben Juarez reports, there's still more work to do.

EDINBURG – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) men's basketball team recorded its first-ever NCAA Division I postseason victory by opening the 2019 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) with a 74-73 victory over Grambling State University (GSU) on Wednesday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse in front of a crowd of 2,071.

The Vaqueros will next host Texas Southern in the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) on Monday at 7 p.m. at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

With 20 wins, UTRGV is now in the midst of its winningest season since 2001-02, when the team also won 20 games, and tied for the eighth winningest season in program history. UTRGV last won 21 games in 1989-90.

This was UTRGV’s first postseason win since the opening round of the 1968 NCAA Division II Tournament. UTRGV is now 18-11 all-time in the postseason, including a 6-2 record at home, with the previous seven games occurring before the fieldhouse was built (1969).

This was UTRGV’s second largest home crowd of the season and largest at the fieldhouse since Feb. 18, 2017, when UTRGV drew 2,234 fans for a game against New Mexico State.

Graduate student Tyson Smith led UTRGV with 19 points while hitting a career-high tying four three-pointers and dishing out a career-high seven assists. Junior Lesley Varner II scored 14 points with six rebounds and two steals. Sophomore Javon Levi scored 14 points with seven assists and three steals. Senior Terry Winn III scored 10 points with six rebounds. Junior Jordan Jackson finished with 10 points and two blocks.

Dallas Polk-Hillard led GSU (17-17) with 22 points. Prince Moss scored 16 points with six rebounds. Axel Mpoyo scored 12 points. Ivy Smith Jr. scored 11 points with 13 assists.

UTRGV trailed 70-63 with 4:53 remaining. That’s when Smith hit a three and two free throws and Winn sunk a layup to tie the game.

Polk-Hilliard nailed a three with 1:11 left to put GSU back on top, but Winn made a layup with 57.9 seconds left and then knocked down a pair of free throws with 9.8 seconds remaining to seal the victory.

UTRGV and GSU traded baskets over the first four and a half minutes before Jackson used a layup and a three to power a 10-0 run to give UTRGV a 19-8 lead.

GSU responded with a 22-7 run to take a 30-26 lead before UTRGV went on another 10-0 run, capped by a Varner jumper, to regain the lead.

GSU then scored 11 of the final 17 points of the half to pull within 42-41.

Jackson opened the second half with a three, but GSU responded by scoring six-straight points to take the lead.

UTRGV led by as much as four at 60-56 on a Levi free throw before GSU went on a 14-3 run to go up seven.

DENTON – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) women’s basketball team dropped the opening round game of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI) 56-42 to the University of North Texas (UNT) on Wednesday at The Super Pit.

Junior Megan Johnson led UTRGV (18-15) with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while making a career-high five three-pointers. Graduate student Madison Northcutt added 10 points with six rebounds.

UNT (16-15) was led by Anisha George who scored 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting with Callie Owens chipping in 10 points with six rebounds.

UTRGV came out in the first quarter and took a 5-2 lead after a three-pointer by Johnson with 8:32 left in the quarter. Later in the first after a jumper by junior Makaela Mosley that gave UTRGV the 7-6 lead, UNT put together a 14-3 run to close out the quarter taking the 20-10 lead.

UNT extended its lead with a layup by Charlene Shepherd to open the scoring in the second quarter. Johnson answered with another three-point before a layup by George pushed the score to 24-13 with 8:21 left in the half.

Later in the quarter, Johnson knocked down another three-pointer to get UTRGV within 26-18 with 5:28 left in the half but UNT answered back with a three-pointer from Trena Mims. UTRGV got within seven at 31-24 after senior Krisynthia Sampson made a jumper at the buzzer as UNT took the lead into halftime.

Senior Idil Türk got UTRGV within five at 31-26 as she opened the scoring with a jumper but UNT went on a 9-0 run to push their lead to 40-26 with 4:50 left in the quarter. UTRGV answered with an 8-0 run of the their own that was capped by another three-pointer from Johnson that got UTRGV within 40-34 but UNT scored the final five points of the third to push their lead to 45-34.

Johnson opened the fourth with a jumper but UNT answered with back-to-back buckets that made it 49-36 with 6:36 left to play. UTRGV got within 49-40 after back-to-back buckets by Northcutt but UNT put the game away as they got their biggest lead of the night at 55-40 after a layup by Madie Townley.