If one word had to describe the UTSA women’s basketball season finale — thrilling would be it.
Heading into Tuesday’s contest, the Roadrunners were in a tight six-way tie in the American Athletic Conference standings. Tied at 9-8 with Rice, South Florida, Charlotte, UAB and Memphis, with all fighting for tournament seeding, tonight was a must-win for UTSA. The ‘Runners answered the call in a dominate 60-52 victory against Rice at the Convocation Center.
“I’m proud of the way our team played tonight,” head coach Karen Aston said. “The [players] knew that first of all, if we [did not] win we would have a chance to be in [the] bottom four of the standings.”
UTSA commanded the entire game, never allowing Rice to gain the lead. Led by freshman forward Idara Udo and senior forward Jordyn Jenkins who combined for 10 points and 12 boards, giving the ‘Runners a 30-18 lead over Rice at the half. Udo’s presence in the paint carried over into the second half, forcing the Owls to send double and triple teams her way. The relentless defense was no match for the freshman, ending the night with a double-double of 10 points, 11 rebounds along with a pair of blocks. Jenkins nearly captured her own double-double off the bench, totalling 14 points and nine rebounds. Junior forward Elyssa Coleman got in on the action, capturing 14 points herself in tonight’s win.
“I walked in here focused,” Udo said. “When we have a good shootaround and energy in warmups, it translates into our game.”
Despite the Owls driving to the rim quickly all night and wearing down UTSA in the last five minutes of the game during a fourth quarter push. Rice could not muster anything on offense, missing a majority of their shots. Junior forward Malia Fisher, who seemed to be on the floor all night, was the Owls only offensive threat finishing with 30 points and 12 rebounds.
“In the last five minutes or so, it got kinda tight,” Aston said “maybe [the players] were playing not to lose, it’s a learning process.”
Though the season had its ups and downs, the ‘Runners finished the regular season with their first winning record since 2014-15. In a miraculous shift of fate, the other 9-8 squads all lost their games, laying the path for UTSA to secure the fourth seed and a double bye over a head-to-head tiebreaker with South Florida in seeding for the AAC Tournament.
“We’ve secured a winning record, something that hasn’t happened in a long time,” Aston said “We are eligible for the postseason, it’s just an unbelievable accomplishment in the time period we’ve built this thing.”
UTSA will play as the fourth seed and will play either Wichita State, Florida Atlantic or USF at 2 p.m. Monday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
