? Box score
? Postgame quotes
? Game as heard on goUTSA.com
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| Junior Monica Gibbs has 14 points and eight rebounds on Saturday. |
BATON ROUGE, La. ? Making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, the No. 15-seed UTSA women’s basketball team fell 91-52 to No. 2-seed Texas A&M on Saturday in first round action at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Roadrunners (23-10) were led by junior guard Monica Gibbs’ team highs of 14 points and eight rebounds. Seniors Amanda Foster and Terrie Davis, who played their last UTSA game, added six and five points, respectively. Meanwhile, freshman guard Jordan Stark and junior forward Tia Bogan came off the bench and added 11 and seven points, respectively.
The Aggies (27-7) were led by Morenike Atunrase’s game-high 19 points, while Danielle Gant scored 18. The Aggies forced 30 turnovers, including 23 in the first half, and converted 38 points off the miscues.
“Give Texas A&M a lot of credit,” head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said. “I thought our team was very prepared. We just didn’t handle their pressure very well. You can’t have 30 turnovers against a team that good, but I thought our kids played hard and never gave up.”
Leading 49-16 at the half, Texas A&M began the second the half on an 8-2 run to expand its lead to 57-18. Bogan and Stark highlighted a mini run by UTSA that made score 62-30 at the 14-minute mark. However, A&M built its largest lead of the game at 84-42 on Atunrase’s three-ball with four minutes to play and cruised to its second straight first-round win.
The Aggies jumped on UTSA quickly, 10-4, when Gant connected on a jumper with 15:42 to play in the first half and would not look back. The Aggies then increased their lead to 16 points on A’Quonesia Franklin’s 3-pointer from the top of the key at 12-minute mark. An Onika Anderson layup midway through the stanza made the score 25-7, but Gant netted a pair of free throw to give A&M its largest of the half at 33-9 with 7:02 to play. The Aggies closed out the half on a 22-9 run for the 49-16 halftime lead.
“Losing is never good, but this whole experience of being in the NCAA Tournament has been great,” Rippetoe-Blair said. “We’ve told our young kids to remember this moment and that you have to be ready to play every game, no matter who you are playing.”
UTSA wrapped up arguably its most successful season in school history, setting a school record for wins (23) and capturing the school’s first-ever Southland Conference Tournament title.