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SAN ANTONIO — Sam Houston State rattled off a 13-0 first-half run for an early lead and the Bearkats cruised to a 63-50 victory against UTSA in Saturday's Southland Conference opener for both squads.
Sophomore Judy Jones scored 13 points, 11 of which came in the first half, to lead the Roadrunners (4-10, 0-1 SLC).
Meanwhile, Britni Martin notched a game-high 19 for Sam Houston (6-6, 1-0 SLC), which won its first game in the Alamo City since 2000.
UTSA held an early 4-2 lead before the Bearkats started their run with three consecutive layups. A Martin jumper and another layup for two of the Bearkats’ 25 points in the paint capped the big run that established a double-digit advantage.
Trailing 26-11 with six minutes to play in the half, UTSA responded with an 8-0 stretch to trim the deficit to seven. Jones scored the first five points of the spurt, part of a stretch where she scored eight consecutive points for the Roadrunners.
However, Sam Houston State scored the final four points of the stanza and took a 35-24 lead into the locker room.
The Bearkats opened the second half on a 12-3 run and led by 20 (47-27) with a dozen minutes to play. Senior Ashley Gardner provided UTSA’s only bucket in the first eight minutes of the frame, a 3-pointer with 16:35 on the clock.
Minutes later, freshman Ashley Spaletta hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cut into the lead, but Sam Houston State recovered and led by 16 with two-and-a-half minutes to go.
Senior Simone Young’s layup ignited a 7-1 run that made it 60-50 with 1:10 remaining, but that was as close as UTSA got the rest of the way.
The Bearkats held a 49-38 rebounding edge, including 20 on the offensive end that led to 20 second-chance points. The Birds held Sam Houston State to just 33-percent shooting for the game, including 29 in the second half, and they now have held four of their last five opponents to less than 40 percent from the field.
The Roadrunners will look to snap their three-game skid while attempting to win on the road for the first time this season when they face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-10, 0-1 SLC) on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at American Bank Center.