After last season’s strong run to the semifinals of the 2023 Conference-USA Women’s Basketball Championship, the UTSA women’s basketball team looked to keep that momentum going as they began the new campaign against their cross-town rival, St. Mary’s.
The Roadrunners kicked off the 2023–24 season with a resounding 67-46 win at the Convocation Center on Wednesday night.
The Rattlers have gained a reputation for playing extremely tough, especially against higher competition. St. Mary’s was the more physical team in the opening few minutes.
Freshman forward Taylor Haggan started hot, scoring five points. The Rattler’s defense gave the Roadrunners early trouble in the first quarter, including numerous steals and a massive block by forward Natalia Ryng.
UTSA was able to flip the script for the rest of the quarter, putting pressure on defense as they found their shooting form. The Roadrunners took a nine-point lead to finish the quarter 20-11. Sidney Love led the offense with 11 points, taking control of the offense in the last five minutes of the quarter.
“I get more confident and feel like the game came easy to me, so all I want to do is do what I have to do to help the team win,” Love said.
Freshman forward Idara Udo started off the second quarter strong, scoring six points in the opening five minutes after scoring four in the first. Udo dominated down near the rim and helped UTSA take control of the game with seven rebounds in the first half.
“That was the biggest thing the coaches wanted to work with me on,” Udo said. “Being more physical, playing at a faster pace and improving on the defensive end.”
UTSA had its biggest lead of the game when they led by 16 with less than six minutes left in the second quarter.
UTSA had a rough start offensively in the third quarter, only tacking on five points in the opening five minutes. Kyra White put an end to the rough start by blocking the Rattler’s offensive efforts.
White wanted to “limit the turnovers a lot” but felt that she grew into the game as it progressed. “I felt like there’s much more that I can do,” she said.
A couple of big-time three-pointers by White helped extend UTSA’s lead to 55-44 with a little over four minutes left in the game. White was a key player in the second half and impacted the game on both sides of the ball.
“We stuck to our principles and tried to get easy open touches on the wings. Especially in the fourth quarter, you could see the team coming together,” White said.
Udo added another six points to her total of 16 of the night, and Love also hit another three-pointer to rack up 14 points. This trio helped lead the Roadrunners to a 67-46 win to kickstart the season.
UTSA will officially begin the season with a road game against Arizona State at 7 p.m. Monday at the Desert Financial Arena.
