SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA women's basketball team suffered a close 62-57 loss to Louisiana Tech in its Conference USA opener on Thursday night at the Convocation Center.
GAME LEADERS
Redshirt-sophomore Elyssa Coleman recorded her second double-double of the season with 12 points scored and a team-high 11 rebounds. Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners in scoring for the ninth time this season, racking up 21 points. Senior Hailey Atwood had her best performance this season with seven boards. UTSA had the advantage with 36 points in the paint to Louisiana Tech's 12. Although the Roadrunners had 23 made field goals to the Lady Techsters' 19 made field goals, the difference maker in the game was at the free-throw line. Louisiana Tech went 16 for 18 at the charity stripe, while UTSA went 8 for 10.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Lady Techsters scored first but the Roadrunners responded as Queen Ulabo scored two straight layups within the next minute. For about two minutes in the first quarter, both teams were on a scoring drought which involved 10 missed shots and three turnovers. After this, Louisiana Tech battled to a three-point lead which, despite UTSA cutting it to a one-point deficit twice, led to the Lady Techsters ended the first quarter with a 13-10 lead.
The Roadrunners used a 23-point second quarter to take a five-point lead to halftime. Hailey Atwood opened up the second period with two straight made layups. After making the first layup, Atwood blocked a shot attempt by Keiuanna Walker to get the ball back and end the play with her second layup. The second quarter saw a lot of back-and-forth action including five lead changes and a tie game. The Lady Techsters' Salma Bates gave LA Tech the lead with 4:07 left, but Jenkins quickly responded about thirty seconds later, beginning a seven-point run for UTSA. As time expired in the first half, freshman Madison Cockrell launched the ball from nearly at the half-court line to give UTSA a 33-28 lead at the half.
Louisiana Tech started to pick up the pace coming back from the break in the third quarter, outscoring UTSA from 16 points to 14 points. Although the Lady Techsters tied the game twice, the Roadrunners held onto their lead. Both times that Louisiana Tech tied it up, it was Jenkins to score a layup to win back UTSA's lead. Atwood knocked in a layup in the paint to give UTSA the 47-44 lead at the end of the third.
In the final quarter, the Lady Techsters went on a tear and never looked back, driven by a 10-point scoring run. Coleman led the Roadrunners in scoring in the fourth quarter, including going 4-for-4 in a couple crucial moments at the free throw line to get UTSA's deficit down to a single point. A few fouls called on the Roadrunners in the last minute and a half of the game proved to be costly as UTSA fell to Louisiana Tech, 62-57, in the Roadrunners' C-USA opening game.
UTSA's record falls to 2-8 (0-1 in C-USA action), while Louisiana Tech's record improves to 8-4 (1-1 in C-USA play).
UP NEXT: The Roadrunners will continue conference play as they host UAB on New Year's Eve. Tip-off is set for noon for the Dec. 31 matchup.
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