| Senior Ryba Pawlaczyk posted her first career double-double on Friday night. |
SAN ANTONIO ? Senior forward Ryba Pawlaczyk recorded her first career double-double with personal bests of 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead the UTSA women’s basketball team past Texas A&M International, 85-53, in its home opener on Friday night at the Convocation Center.
“Overall, I was happy with our performance tonight,” head coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair said. “Jordan (Stark) and Rachel (Schlosser) were hitting their outside shots tonight, which opened up the inside game for us. Ryba had a great game with 20 points and 12 rebounds.”
Sophomore guard Jordan Stark chipped in with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including making five 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Rachel Schlosser came off the bench to score 18 points. The duo went 9-for-18 from downtown on the night. Senior guard Monica Gibbs dished out a game-high eight assists and scored nine points for the Roadrunners (1-0).
Jasmine June and Mary Tobias led the Dustdevils with 17 points apiece.
UTSA dominated the second half, outscoring A&M International 42-29 and nearly shooting 50 percent from the floor.
The Roadrunners used a 20-8 run to push their lead to 66-32 with 12:51 left. UTSA then increased its advantage to 40, its largest of the night, on Pawlaczyk’s free throws with 6:29 remaining.
The Roadrunners started off the game on fire, making seven of their first 11 shots to grab a 23-7 lead. However, the Dustdevils used an 8-0 run midway through the half to cut the edge to 10 following a basket by Torbias. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Schlosser and Stark extended the UTSA lead to 18 with 5:22 to play and the Runners closed out the stanza with a 9-2 spurt for a 43-24 halftime advantage.
UTSA begins a three-game road trip on Sunday with a 5 p.m. contest at TCU.