SAN ANTONIO – Veterans Marie Benson, Crystal Chidomere and Carlie Heineman scored double figures to lead the UTSA women's basketball team (3-13, 1-3 C-USA) to its first Conference USA victory with a 64-56 triumph over Old Dominion (2-15, 0-4 C-USA) on Saturday night at the Convocation Center.
The win for UTSA snapped a three-game skid to open conference play and saw the Roadrunners improve to 2-5 at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners were paced by Benson with a game-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. Joining the sophomore in double figures was Heineman with 18 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers, and Chidomere with 13 points.
Turning Points
UTSA was down by three after a quarter, but used a big 12-2 run early in the second quarter to find the equalizer at 31. Benson got the run started with a jumper at 7:08 of the frame before Heineman capped the run with back-to-back 3-pointers. With less than a minute left in the half, Chidomere delivered a layup to UTSA ahead 33-31 at the half.
Old Dominion used a 16-13 third quarter to reclaim the lead at 47-46, but the Roadrunners battled back to outscore the Monarchs 18-9 in the fourth quarter. Chidomere opened the final frame with a jumper to give UTSA back the lead. The Roadrunners cushioned their edge with five points from Benson while forcing three Monarch turnovers. UTSA closed out its victory by scoring the last seven points of the game.
Inside The Numbers
- UTSA shot 39.1 percent from the floor and 37.5 from 3-point range, while holding ODU to 26.3 from the arch.
- The Monarchs won the rebounding battle, 41-33, led by a game-high 13 rebounds from Taylor Edwards.
- UTSA grabbed eight offensive rebounds while ODU held a 5-4 edge in second chance points.
- Benson's 19 points came on 7-of-13 shooting and a 5-for-6 mark from the charity stripe.
- The Roadrunners combined for 14 assists against six turnovers, while the Monarchs combined nine assists and had 13 turnovers.
Up Next
The Roadrunners take to the road for C-USA contests at WKU (Thursday, Jan. 18) and Old Dominion (Saturday, Jan. 20). Thursday's tilt in Bowling Green, Ky., is set for 11 a.m. (CT), while Saturday's game in Norfolk, Va., is a 6 p.m. (CT) tipoff. Both contests will stream on CUSA.tv.