After an emotional semifinal loss to East Carolina last week in the American Athletic Conference tournament, the UTSA women’s basketball team had to wait until Sunday to see if its season would continue. Once confirming the Roadrunners would be hosting the Northern Colorado Bears in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, the women got their shot on Thursday to make history.
Without disappointment, UTSA did just that, winning its first game in a national postseason tournament in program history in an 80-62 thrashing at the Convocation Center.
“Oh, it feels good,” third-year coach Karen Aston said, “[it] felt amazing.”
Trailing 23-19 entering the second quarter, the ‘Runners went on a 9-3 run to take their first lead since the 4:18 mark of the first and stayed in front for the remainder of the game. Kyra White, Aysia Proctor and Jordyn Jenkins each made jump shots before Sidney Love made a 3-pointer to take a 30-37 lead, their largest in the first half. UTSA took a five-point lead into halftime before playing another hard-fought third quarter, where each team scored 20 points.
The ‘Runners kept their foot on the gas in the final frame to put the game away, outscoring Northern Colorado 20-7. It was a full-team effort with Hailey Atwood, Kyleigh McGuire, Nissa Sam-Grant, Siena Guttadauro, Elyssa Coleman, Love, Jenkins and Proctor all adding to the scoring column.
Jenkins had a game-high 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field, including 2-of-3 3-pointers along with a team-high seven boards. Proctor followed 13 points off the bench while White and Love each added 10.
“I was having a good time, and we haven’t played in a while,” Jenkins said. “We have never had a postseason win and I never had postseason stats.”
The word historic was heard around the Convo Thursday night with the women’s team advancing to the second round in the WNIT. White was happy to be a part of the history in her neighboring hometown of Converse.
“It feels great,” she said. “I was grateful and blessed to play in front of a home crowd.”
White also felt the emotional win was meant to be.
“It was different in a good way,” she continued, “it just felt like it was meant to happen.”
UTSA will advance to the second round in the WNIT and face Wyoming at 2 p.m. Sunday in Arena-Auditorium in Laramie, Wyoming.
