UTSA Roadrunners (7-10, 3-3)
vs.
Nicholls State Lady Colonels (1-17, 0-7)
Saturday, Jan. 31 • 2 p.m. • Convocation Center
RADIO/TV
Saturday's game will be televised as part of a doubleheader on Time Warner Cable Television Channel 19 beginning with the women's pregame show at 1:45 p.m. The game also can be heard live on goUTSA.com beginning at 2 p.m.
UTSA TODAY
UTSA will be looking for its first Southland Conference victory at home when they take on the Lady Colonels Saturday afternoon. The Roadrunners are coming of a 61-46 road win over Lamar which evened their league record to 3-3. The ’Runners hope to complete the regular-season sweep of the Lady Colonels after taking the first meeting of the year two weeks ago in Thibodaux.
THE SERIES
UTSA leads the all-time series with Nicholls by the count of 19-10. The ’Runners have won five in a row against the Lady Colonels. The Roadrunners are 6-2 under Coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair and 11-2 all-time at the Covocation Center against the Lady Colonels.
SCOUTING THE LADY COLONELS
Nicholls State is currently at the bottom of the Southland standings with an 0-7 league record. The Lady Colonels lone victory of the season (1-17), a 76-56 win over Louisiana College, came in their second game of the year. NSU is led in scoring this season by Marneshia Bryant (10.6 ppg) and Cristin Burdette (9.2 ppg).
AT THE HELM
UTSA Head Coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair (Oklahoma State ‘85), in her fourth year with the Roadrunners, is a two-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year (2001, 2003).She is 57-46 at UTSA (.553) and 164-90 (.646) over a career that spans eight years. Her most recent coach of the year selection came in 2003 when she led the Roadrunners their first-ever SLC regular season championship. She is tied for second on UTSA’s all-time wins list.
LAST TIME OUT
1/29 ROADRUNNERS BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN WITH 61-46 WIN AT LAMAR
BEAUMONT, Texas – Dewella Holliday had 14 points to lead three Roadrunners in double figures as UTSA wrapped up a 61-46 win over Lamar in Southland Conference action Thursday night at the Montagne Center.
UTSA (7-10, 3-3) scored 28 points in the paint compared to 14 by Lamar and 19 bench points to LU’s five. Lacy Mingee, who had 10 points, led the Roadrunners’ bench scoring along with contributions from Ana Oliveira, who had a career-high seven, and two from Holly Ziegler. Nikki Hendrix, with 11 points, scored in double figures for the seventh consecutive game and for the 11th time in 12 games played this season.
The Lady Cardinals were paced by Audrea Samuel ’s 18 points while Demela Lowe had 10.
NOT SO SWEET HOME
After going 10-0 at home in SLC play last season, the opposite has happened for the Roadrunners in 2003-04, starting off 0-2 in league play at the Covocation Center.
BLOCK PARTY
Through 16 games this season, sophomore center/forward Katie Sandefur has already surpassed her blocks total (13) from a year ago. The Oklahoma
native averages just under one block per contest. Kim Duncan (1983-85) is the all-time and single-season blocks leader at UTSA with 57 and 93
blocks, respectively.
MAY I HELP YOU?
Katie Sandefur’s seven assists against Northwestern State is a personal career-high for the Oklahoma native as well as the most by a Roadrunner this
season. Sandefur has dished out 37 assists this season, the second-most on the team.
BIRDS BATTLING FOR BOARDS
It appears as if UTSA may be turning around their early-season rebounding
woes in the last two games. The ’Runners have out-rebounded their opponents in two consecutive games grabbing 40+ rebounds in each of the contests.
EVERYDAY IS A HOLLIDAY
UTSA’s second leading scorer senior Dewella Holliday (14.6 ppg) has scored in double-figures in 14 of the Roadrunners 17 games played this season.
Fellow senior Nikki Hendrix is on the same track with 11 double-digit performances in 12 games since returning to the Roadrunner lineup in December.
CLIMBING THE SCORING/REBOUNDING LADDERS
Hendrix is currently 9th all-time on UTSA’s scoring list with 904 points. Averaging 357 points per season, the Oklahoma native is on pace to reach 1000+ points by the end of her career. She would be the ninth Roadrunner to reach 1,000 career points. Hendrix has 352 career rebounds, making her 14th all-time at UTSA She is second on the team this season averaging 6.4 per game.
SCORE MORE
UTSA has scored 70+ points on two occasions this season. The first, a 73-82 loss at Southern Utah and the second, a 74-50 win over Alcorn State. The 74 points is the most for Coach Blair’s team since her first year,2000-01.
IN THEIR TWENTIES
Seniors Nikki Hendrix and Dewella Holliday have scored 20+ points three and two times, respectively. Hendrix is averaging 15.8 points per game to lead the ’Runners, while Holliday is second with 14.6.
GOT THE MOJO RISIEN
Freshman J.J. Risien (Dripping Springs, Texas) leads all UTSA newcomers averaging 3.6 points and 2.1 rebounds and 9.7 minutes per game off the bench. J.J. is the daughter of former Texas A&M football standout and 11-year Cleveland Brown veteran Cody Risien.
REED’S HELPING HAND
Junior guard Kim Reed (Dallas, Texas) has dished out 52 assists on the season to lead the team with 3.1 per game. She had the second-most assists on the team last year with 57.
SOUTHLAND HONORS FOR HOLLIDAY
Senior Dewella Holliday (Monroe City, Mo.) was named the Southland Conference (SLC) Player of the Week it was announced Monday (Dec.8) in a release by the league's office. The UTSA guard/forward earns her first-ever weekly honor after scoring her second double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds in the Roadrunners only game of the week at Alabama. She also tacked on two assists and one steal. The 2002-03 SLC Newcomer of the Year has scored in double figures in 10 of UTSA’s 11 games this season.
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
UTSA returns two all-conference selections from a year ago, with each of them landing a spot on the 2003-04 SLC preseason all-conference squad Senior forward Nikki Hendrix (Ardmore, Okla.) was named to the first-team squad. Senior forward Dewella Holliday (Monroe City, Mo.) tied for the last available spot on the second-team.
The duo joins the following Roadrunners on the all-conference teams: Angel Singleton, second team, 1997; Joyce Howard, second team,1998; Rosie Smith, second team, 1999; Keelah Wilson, second team, 2000; Renda Churman and Julie Rampley, second-team, 2001; Nikki Hendrix, second-team, 2002.
’RUNNERS UP
After winning the regular season Southland Conference (SLC) championship in 2002-03,UTSA is picked second in both the coaches and sports information director’s SLC preseason polls for 2003-04.Texas State, who edged out the Roadrunners for the SLC tournament title last year was placed atop UTSA in the preseason voting.
INJURY REPORT
UTSA: Nicole Dunson is out for the season with a torn anterior crucial ligament.
NEXT UP
The Roadrunners travel to Stephen F. Austin on Thursday,Feb.5. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum.