DENTON, Texas – The UTSA women's basketball team won a thrilling 68-67 overtime matchup over North Texas on Monday night at The Super Pit, thanks to a career-high 40-point game by Jordyn Jenkins.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME
Jenkins dominated the game as she exploded for a career-high 40 points, also notching 11 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. She also had a team-high two blocks. Other key performers were Sidney Love (13 points and three steals) and Elyssa Coleman (10 points and eight rebounds).
Head coach Karen Aston notched her 300th career win with this victory over North Texas. Not only is 300 career wins a phenomenal feat for any coach, the win is extra special and nostalgic as she earned her 100thcareer win in the season she coached the Mean Green in 2011-12.
The Roadrunners continue to rebound the ball astonishingly well, outrebounding the Mean Green by 46 rebounds to 28. UTSA also led in second chance points (18 to 9) and points in the paint (30 to 24). From the field, the Roadrunners led the game by 42 percent to 38 percent. At the charity stripe, UTSA went 20 for 24 (83 percent) as North Texas went 15 for 20 (75 percent).
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The Mean Green opened up the game with a six-point scoring run. Two fouls drawn and four made free throws by Jenkins and Coleman cut North Texas' lead to 6-4. A layup by Coleman with 5:35 on the clock tied the game up 8-8. About 30 seconds later, she made two free throws to give UTSA its first lead (10-8) of the game. The Mean Green responded with a 5-0 scoring run to take the lead back. A layup by Maya Linton then cut North Texas' lead to a single point, but not for long as Mean Green made a couple free throws to extend their lead back to three points. Two straight three-point baskets by Jenkins in the last minute of the first quarter gave UTSA a 18-15 advantage heading to the second period.
Sidney Love opened the second quarter with a jump shot to extend the Roadrunners' lead to five points, before the Mean Green went on a 6-0 scoring run to take a 21-20 lead. A couple layups by Coleman and Jenkins then won the 24-21 lead back for UTSA. The Mean Green attempted to come back and even cut their deficit to one point twice before the end of the first quarter, but UTSA went to the intermission up by 28-27.
Although the Mean Green opened the third quarter off with a five-point scoring run, the Roadrunners outscored the Mean Green by 20 points to 15 points in the quarter, furthering their lead to six points by the end of the third period. The quarter saw six lead changes and two tied scores as the Mean Green made the Roadrunners work for it. A three-point basket by Jordyn Jenkins took the Roadrunners to the final quarter up by six points (48-42). The final quarter was when things heated up as the Mean Green outscored the Roadrunners by 15 points to nine points. In the fourth quarter, foul calls were what let North Texas catch up as the Mean Green shot 9-for-11 at the free throw line while the Roadrunners went 3-for-6. With 30 seconds on the clock, the Mean Green's Quincy Noble drew a foul to go to the line and make both to tie the game up at 57-57, taking it to overtime.
The Roadrunners got right to business in overtime as Jenkins opened up action with a layup just six seconds into play. She then followed that with another pair of layups as she was the only scorer on either team for the first three minutes of the overtime period. Although the Mean Green made a few shots in the five-minute overtime, the Roadrunners always had an answer. With the Roadrunners up by four points with five seconds left, the Mean Green's Jordyn Carter sank a three-point basket. That was not enough as UTSA took a close 68-67 win in overtime over North Texas.
UTSA's record improves to 8-18 overall (6-11 in C-USA action), while North Texas' record falls to 10-17 overall (7-10 in conference play).
UP NEXT: The Roadrunners return home for a pair of home games later this week, including hosting Florida Atlantic for Black History Month Game on Thursday at 7 p.m. and hosting FIU for Senior Game/Military Appreciation on Saturday at 12 p.m. Both games will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
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