On Jan. 22, and Jan. 23, the UTSA women’s basketball team took on the Southern Mississippi Lady Eagles for back to back games in which the ‘Runners fell short. With these losses tacked onto their record, UTSA is currently last in the Conference USA (C-USA) West Division with a 2-11 (0-8 C-USA) record. These two games marked the halfway point in the ‘Runners season, which is making the playoffs look further and further out of reach.

Coming into the game on Friday, UTSA started off shooting 9.52% from the field in the first quarter and only put up four points to Southern Miss’ 26. With such a massive lead for the Lady Eagles, the ‘Runners would have to make a massive comeback. While the ‘Runners improved their field goal percentage to 50%, the score at the end of the first half was still 27-44. UTSA once again opened up the half with poor shooting numbers around 28%, which did not help close the gap in points. To end the game, both teams put up 20 points in the fourth quarter, and UTSA would fall to Southern Miss by a final score of 64-88. Looking at what caused this 24 point blow out, UTSA is going to need their shot selection to be better and for their bench to step up. The Lady Eagle’s bench out scored the ‘Runners 58-23. With starters like Karrington Donald and Mikayla Woods putting up 18 and 12 points respectively, the bench is going to have to do more.

Looking to get their first C-USA win, the ‘Runners would have to make some drastic changes in order to win the second game of the series. Unfortunately, the game practically played out the same way. To open the game the ‘Runners shot 18% compared to the Lady Eagles 43%, leading to an early lead for the Lady Eagles 14-7 at the end of the first quarter. The rest of the game played out to a stalemate, and the game ended with a Southern Miss win, 73-66. UTSA shot much better from the field this time around and the score was closer as a result. However, the bench still lacked the necessary ability to score, leading to the ‘Runners’ bench being outscored 15-32. With such a low contribution coming from the bench, the ‘Runners would have to come out to a massive lead early, but with poor shots being taken there is not much hope for that.

For the ‘Runners’ playoff dreams to be kept alive, they are going to have to play at a much higher level when they face off against the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), who are currently third in the C-USA West Division with a 8-5 (5-3 C-USA) record. If UTSA loses their next few games, their playoff dreams are all but gone. With the season on the line, UTSA will have to make drastic changes. The matchup against UTEP will be played on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m.