UTSA women’s basketball opened up the new year with a neck-and-neck victory against the University of Alabama at Birmingham Blazers, led by strong performances from junior guard Sidney Love and senior forward Jordyn Jenkins, besting the Blazers 67-56 Wednesday at the Convocation Center.
The game opened with the Roadrunners on the offensive, quickly establishing a 7-0 lead. Love and graduate guard Nina De Leon Negron accounted for all seven points during the early surge. The Blazers (9-5, 0-2 AAC) struggled to find their rhythm early, missing their first five shots and committing turnovers, which the Roadrunners (11-2, 2-0 AAC) capitalized on. Love, who finished with 19 points, made her presence known early with two three-pointers, extending the Roadrunners’ lead to 15-2. By the end of the first quarter, UTSA had a solid 20-9 advantage, despite committing seven turnovers.
“It’s been three years of work in this program with a staff that wants you to get better,” Love said. “I’m just buying into that and have had the opportunity to showcase it.”
In the second quarter, the Blazers mounted a response, with guard Journey Armstead scoring 11 of UAB’s 13 points up to that point. Freshman guard Damara Allen’s three-pointer helped halt the Blazers’ momentum temporarily, but UAB countered with a 6-0 run, cutting the Roadrunners’ lead to just two points at 23-21. Despite shooting just 4-16 in the quarter, UTSA outscored the Blazers 9-4 to finish the period with a 32-25 advantage.
The third quarter elicited a strong response from UAB. Forward Sara Bershers hit a three-pointer to cut the lead to six, and Armstead followed with a jumper to bring it within four. UTSA quickly answered, with Jenkins hitting a jumper and Love adding a block and a jumper to extend the lead to 38-30. The Roadrunners then hit back-to-back three-pointers from Jenkins and De Leon Negron to push the lead to 46-36. UAB fought back as forward Jade Weathersby and guard Rayne Tucker combined for 14 points, with Weathersby scoring two layups and Tucker hitting a buzzer-beater to narrow the gap to 48-46.
In the fourth quarter, UAB briefly took the lead at 51-50, but Allen’s clutch three-pointer put UTSA back ahead. Jenkins followed with a key three-pointer to extend the lead to 58-54, and De Leon Negron assisted Jenkins on a highlight alley-oop layup to push the lead to 60-54.
Jenkins scored nine of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Roadrunners maintain the lead as the clock wound down. Love, along with her 19 points, finished with seven assists and five rebounds, while Jenkins also added seven rebounds. The Roadrunners shot 8-15 from the field and committed just one turnover to close out the victory.
“We had ten turnovers at half, and we’ve been in this turnover-prone sequence lately,” coach Karen Aston said. “We ended up with 16 which is decent, so we took care of the ball better and gave ourselves chances to make shots.”
UTSA will travel to Oklahoma to face Tulsa University at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Reynolds Center.
