SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA women's basketball team used an explosive first half to secure a 77-61 win over Florida Atlantic at the Convocation Center on Thursday night.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME
Kyra White exploded for a career-high 22 points, along with five assists, a couple of steals and three blocks. This marks White's first 20-point scoring game of her career. Jordyn Jenkins led the team with 26 points scored, also recording four rebounds. The Roadrunners scored 16 points off of 22 Florida Atlantic turnovers. UTSA also led with fast break points by 16 points to 10 points. The Roadrunners shot 48.3 percent from the field, banking a handful more field goals than the Owls. The biggest difference maker of the game was the three pointers as UTSA banked seven three-point baskets to Florida Atlantic's two.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
White opened up scoring 13 seconds into the game as she sank a three-point basket. After a little bit of back-and-forth action, the Owls tied the game at 10-10 with a layup by Dyllan Hanna with 4:51 on the clock. This is the closest the game would get. The Roadrunners regained the lead shortly after that as a pull up jumper by White gave UTSA the 12-10 lead. A hook shot by Maya Linton with 26 seconds left in the first quarter gave the Roadrunners a 15-12 lead at the end of the period.
During the second quarter, the Roadrunners exploded for 20 points while holding the Owls to just five points. After Florida Atlantic's Aniya Hubbard made a layup to begin scoring in the second quarter, the Roadrunners followed that with a 10-point scoring run. Starting with a White second-chance layup with 8:33 on the clock and concluding with a step back jumper by Elyssa Coleman with 6:07 on the clock, UTSA jumped out to a 25-14 lead over Florida Atlantic. The Owls then scored their only other bucket of the period as Joiya Maddox made a three-point basket with 5:12 left. UTSA went on another 10-0 run starting at 4:03 with a Jenkins layup of an Owls' turnover and ending with a three-point jumper by Sidney Love at 1:21. The Roadrunners held a hefty 35-17 lead to end the first half.
Florida Atlantic came back from the break with some more motivation, outscoring the Roadrunners by 22 points to 20 in the third quarter. Despite that, the Roadrunners jumped out to a 25-point lead at one point, off a three-point jumper by Jenkins with 5:21 on the clock. Florida Atlantic did a better job containing the Roadruuners' explosive offense, not allowing them to go on scoring runs longer than five points during the third period. By the end of the quarter, the Owls had cut their lead down to 16 points, trying to fight their way back into the game. UTSA took a 55-39 advantage to the final 10 minutes of action.
In the final quarter, the Owls and Roadrunners had 22 points each. After a couple free throws for the Owls, White sank the first field goal of the period with a pull up jump shot with 8:49 on the clock. Following that, Florida Atlantic went on a nine-point scoring run to get their deficit down to more digestable nine points (59-50) with 6:55 left in the game. The Owls continued to fight back through the rest of the game but the Roadrunners always had an answer. Thanks to its early offensive power, UTSA came out victorious over Florida Atlantic, 77-61, on Thursday night.
UTSA's record improves to 9-18 overall (7-11 in C-USA action), while Florida Atlantic's record falls to 12-14 overall (5-12 in conference play).
UP NEXT: The Roadrunners host FIU for Senior Game/Military Appreciation on Saturday at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+ from the Convocation Center.
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