SAN ANTONIO — Niaga Mitchell-Cole led all scorers with 16 points and UTSA bridged the halves with a 34-12 run en route to a 70-57 win over Abilene Christian in the Roadrunners’ home opener on Wednesday night at the Convocation Center.
Mitchell-Cole hit five shots, all six of her free throws and added seven rebounds, five steals and two blocks to help the Roadrunners (1-1) to their first win of the season. Kamra King added 14 points, while Ashley Spaletta finished with a dozen.
UTSA turned 16 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points and held a 46-33 advantage on the glass.
Meanwhile, Lizzy Dimba paced the Wildcats (2-1) with 13 points and eight boards.
Abilene Christian scored the game’s first five points and jumped out to an 8-6 lead on Alyssa Echols’ 3-pointer before the Roadrunners went on their run.
Akunna Elonu started the spurt with a jumper and King found Tesha Smith inside for a basket that gave the home squad the lead for good. King then found Ashley Spaletta open for the first of her four 3-pointers on the night before Mannasha Bell connected on a 17-foot jumper. King knocked in a pair of free throws and capped the run with a steal that turned into a fast-break layup.
In all, UTSA recorded an assist on all five of its baskets during the run, which ended with a 19-9 advantage.
The Wildcats cut the deficit in half with a pair of shots and trailed 26-19 when the Roadrunners put together an 11-0 run for their largest lead of the half.
A Spaletta triple ignited the run and Bell’s steal and layup gave the home squad a 31-19 lead with five minutes to go in the half. Mitchell-Cole hit two free throws before Elonu capped the stretch with a layup and two freebies of her own for a 37-19 cushion.
The Roadrunners held a 39-21 lead at intermission and opened the second half with eight consecutive points for their largest lead of the night, 47-21. From there, the lead would stay in double figures the rest of the way.
Abilene Christian turned up the defensive pressure and slowly chipped away at the UTSA lead.
The Roadrunners went on a 10-minute drought from the field in which they missed 15 consecutive shots that allowed the Wildcats to climb within 55-42.
However, Carlie Heineman thwarted the comeback effort with a 3-pointer. When Abilene Christian pulled to within a dozen, 61-49, with less than three minutes to play she again stuck a triple to help maintain the double-digit edge.
The Roadrunners salted the game away at the free throw line down the stretch, with a pair of freebies by Mitchell-Cole as the final touches on the 70-57 win.
UTSA will return to action for a 2 p.m. contest on Sunday at Lamar (1-2).