SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will begin a three-game road trip on Thursday night with a 6 p.m. matchup at Southern Miss. The Roadrunners then will travel to Louisiana Tech for a 6 p.m. contest two days later.
UTSA (6-8, 1-1 C-USA) is coming off last Sunday's 53-45 home victory against North Texas. Tesha Smith posted her second 17-point performance of the season to go along with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Kamra King sits atop the team's season box score with her 13.7 points-per-game average. The Norman, Okla., native is one of four players on the team to have started all 14 contests.
The Roadrunners, who are averaging 59.2 points an outing, hold the best scoring defense in the league, surrendering just 56.9 points per night. UTSA also ranks third in the league with 4.1 blocked shots per game.
Southern Miss (8-4, 1-0 C-USA) enters Friday’s contest winners of its last two, including a 79-77 overtime victory against Louisiana Tech. Reigning C-USA Player of the Week Tamara Jones paced the Lady Eagles with back-to-back 30-point scoring games. Jones is fifth in the conference in scoring with 17.6 points a game.
Southern Miss also hold the third-best scoring offense (71.7 ppg) in C-USA and is beating teams by 10.3 points a night. The Lady Eagles also lead the league in 3-point field goal percentage, shooting 39 percent (71-of-181), which is good for sixth in the NCAA.
Louisiana Tech (5-7, 0-1 C-USA) will host UTEP on Thursday prior to welcoming the Roadrunners on Saturday evening. The Lady Techsters have dropped their last two contests, including an overtime decision to Southern Miss.
Lousiana Tech stands fourth in the conference in free throw percentage, shooting 70 percent (157-of-223) from the line and are third in assists with 14.8 per game.
Whitney Frazier is tied for ninth in C-USA with her 15.4 points-per-game average, while Kelia Shelton JaQuan Jackson also are averaging double digits with 13.3 and 10.6, respectively.
Click here for complete game notes.