| Junior Ashleigh Franklin had a double-double of 10 points and a dozen rebounds in Friday's season opener. |
AUSTIN — Junior Ashleigh Franklin posted her first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, but wasn’t it enough as No. 12 Texas used a second-half surge to post the 71-60 win in both teams regular season opener Friday night at the Frank Erwin Center.
Junior Amber Gregg led the Roadrunners in scoring with 12 points, including a 5-of-6 shooting performance from the free throw line. Sophomore Whitney York added 10 points and freshman Jermini Malone chipped with nine points on the strength of three 3-pointers.
The Longhorns posted three players in double figure scoring with Ashley Gayle leading the way with a dozen points and six rebounds. Brittainey Raven and Ashleigh Fontenette each netted 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Texas opened up the second half on a 7-2 run to grab its first lead of the game (35-33) with 16:23 to go in the game and would not look back. The Longhorns then push their lead to eight (41-33) on corner jumper by Kathleen Nash at the 15-minute mark.
Johnson’s back-to-back bucks got UTSA within four points (43-39) with 12:51 remaining and would be the closet the Roadrunners would get for the rest of contest. Cokie Reed connected on layup to give the Longhorns a 50-39 lead at the 11-minute mark. Franklin’s free throws with 5:43 pulled the Roadrunners within 59-49. The Longhorns built their largest lead of the game at 68-54 with the help of a 9-5 spurt over the next four minutes.
Freshman Jermini Malone’s third three ball of game capped off a 6-0 run to end the game as Texas picked up the 11-point win.
UTSA began the first half scoring the first eight of the 10 points for the 8-2 lead on pair of York’s free throws with 16:52 to go. The Roadrunners then push their lead to 15-6 using a 7-0 run highlighted by Gregg’s 3-pointer from the left wing with just under 13 minutes to play in the frame.
Texas trimmed UTSA’s lead to one (17-16) when Reed connected on two freebies with 8:46, but a put back buck by Franklin increased the lead to three at the 7-minute mark of the stanza.
The Longhorns scored four quick points to pull get within 29-28, but once again a put back basket by freshman Whitney Wright as time expire in the frame gave the Roadrunners a three point advantage (31-28) at the half.
UTSA returns to San Antonio for its home opener against Schreiner on Sunday, Nov. 15 at the Convocation Center. Tipoff is schedule for 2 p.m.