Against Florida International University (FIU) on Saturday, the UTSA women’s basketball team came up short with a 59-54 loss after shooting poorly in the first three quarters.
The loss dropped the Roadrunners’ overall record to 8-15 and gave the FIU Panthers their third win of the regular season and second in Conference USA (C-USA).
“It has to be a wake-up call,” said sophomore guard Crystal Chidomere, who led the Roadrunners in scoring in the loss. “We went to their place and beat them; they came and beat us in ours, so we can’t take teams lightly. I feel that we, as a team, should build from this loss.”
None of UTSA’s starters finished the game in double figures. Reserve guards Chidomere and Sara Anastasieska scored 30 of the Roadrunners’ 54 points.
Anastasieska recorded 12 points, shooting 5-for-10 and recording three rebounds and a steal.
Chidomere scored 16 points in the second half to finish with a career-high 18 points. She ended the night having shot 7-of-13 and brought down five rebounds.
“I just honestly wanted to win the game,” said Chidomere about her second-half performance. “I tried to keep shooting the same shots and not worry about the first half, and the shots just started going in my favor.”
Freshman guard Kristian Hudson led the Panthers’ scoring with 18 points in addition to four rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Senior FIU guard Taylor Shade was also in double figures, finishing with 11 points. Senior forward Brianna Wright was just two points short of a double-double – she had eight points and a game-high 20 rebounds.
The Panthers led the majority of the way after the Roadrunners led for the first two minutes of the first quarter. FIU also held the Roadrunners to under 30 percent shooting for the first three quarters.
“It wasn’t our best shooting game,” said Chidomere. “I feel like we could have attacked the rim a bit more, but we were settling for jump shots.”
Trailing 41-31 in the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Roadrunners shot 53 percent in the fourth and worked their way back to a two-point deficit with 10 seconds left in the game.
With a chance to get their first lead since the first quarter, the Roadrunners turned the ball over, leading to three successful free throws from junior FIU guard Tianah Alvardo.
Discipline was also an issue for the Roadrunners as they earned two technical fouls – one by the bench and one by Chidomere – in the final quarter. Playing in the bonus for much of the fourth quarter, the Panthers scored 22 total points including 16 from the free throw line.
The Roadrunners (8-15, 4-9 C-USA) will go on their final road trip of the season to play Louisiana Tech (12-11, 7-5 C-USA) on Thursday, Feb. 18 and Southern Mississippi (12-11,5-7 C-USA) on Saturday, Feb. 20.
