FRISCO, Texas – The UTSA women's basketball team snuck past Florida Atlantic by 69-68 in the first round of the Conference USA Championships on Tuesday afternoon. This win advances UTSA to the quarterfinal round to face No. 3 seed Rice on Wednesday at 2 p.m. CT at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE GAME
Sidney Love exploded for 20 points, seven assists and three steal, while also picking up seven boards. Jordyn Jenkins had a team-high eight rebounds, while scoring 18 points. Kyra White was the last Roadrunner to score in double digits with 11 points. Elyssa Coleman had an impressive four-block game, playing an outstanding defensive game.
The Roadrunners continue to dominate the rebound game, outrebounding the Owls by 40 rebounds to 34 rebounds. UTSA also led the way in the paint as the team scored 34 points in the paint compared to FAU's 18 in the paint. The Roadrunners scored 11 second-chance points to the Owls' three points in the category.
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
The first quarter of action bounced back and forth between the two teams as the 10-minute period saw three ties and three lead changes. The Roadrunners opened up scoring with a three-point basket by Sidney Love just over 30 seconds into the game. The Owls' Aniya Hubbard quickly tied it up with a three-pointer of her own. A six-point scoring run by Florida Atlantic gave them a five-point lead, but UTSA responded as it went on a 9-0 run to take a four-point lead. The Owls then went on a 5-0 scoring run to end the first period with a 17-16 advantage.
The Roadrunners immediately regained the lead as White opened scoring in the second quarter with a pull up jumper, but once again the Owls regained the lead shortly after. Although the Roadrunners outscored the Owls by 12 points to seven points, the second quarter saw three lead changes along with three tie scores, similar to the first quarter. For a little over three minutes, neither team scored. Hailey Atwood broke the scoring drought and regained the lead for UTSA with a second-chance layup with 5:40 on the clock. After a few more lead changes, the Roadrunners took the lead again and made the final two baskets – a jumper in the paint by Love and a floating jump shot in the paint by White – to take a 28-24 advantage to the break.
Coming back from the break, the Roadrunners held tight to their lead through the third quarter. UTSA outscored Florida Atlantic by 22 points to 20 points. Although the Owls made it a close game and cut UTSA's lead to three points, an 8-1 scoring run by the Roadrunners gave them a 10-point lead – their first double-digit lead of the game. Florida Atlantic continued to fight back but UTSA responded every time, jumping out to a double-digit lead twice more. A couple free throws by FAU cut the advantage to six points, but UTSA still took a 50-44 lead to the final quarter.
Although UTSA led for 8:28 of the final 10-minute period, Florida Atlantic made it a close one in the final three minutes of action. With 3:31 left on the clock, a couple free throws by the Owls cut the Roadrunners' lead to one point. A basket and foul drawn by FAU's Joiya Maddox tied the game up at 65-65 with 1:37 left. The Owls' Aniya Hubbard made a free throw with 43 seconds left to give them a one-point lead. Just 10 seconds later, Jenkins earned a foul call to regain the one-point lead with two made free throws. With 15 seconds left, Florida Atlantic's Janeta Rozentale made a floating jumper to take a 68-67 lead. A foul drawn by Love with six seconds left gave UTSA a couple of tries at the charity stripe. The freshman seized the opportunity as she sank two free throws to secure the 69-68 victory over Florida Atlantic in the first round of the C-USA Championships.
UTSA's record improves to 12-18 overall, while Florida Atlantic ends to a 12-18 record.
LOOKING AHEAD
UTSA survives and advances to play No. 3 seed Rice on Thursday at 2 p.m. on Court B. The Roadrunners and Owls split the regular season matchups, as each team won the game on their own home court.
In the first matchup in Houston, the Owls took a close 78-76 victory. Three Roadrunners scored in double digits, led by Jordyn Jenkins' 26 points. Jenkins also led the team with eight rebounds and three blocks. Elyssa Coleman contributed 12 points, while Kyra White trailed her with 11 points. White also led the team with seven assists. Freshman point guard Sidney Love had a team-high four steals. The Roadrunners shot 50 percent from the field (29-58) while the Owls shot 43.3 percent from the field (29-67). UTSA had the advantage in the paint with 40 points in the paint compared to Rice's 28 points in the paint. The Roadrunners also went 13-for-17 at the charity stripe, while the Owls went 8-for-13 at the free throw line. UTSA continues to struggle with turnovers with 20, which Rice converted to 23 points.
The second matchup at the Roadrunners' home court at the Convocation Center, UTSA ran away with a 66-53 win. Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 25 points and 11 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season. This is also her 13th 20-point scoring game, along with her 21st double-digit scoring game. Jenkins also led the team with three steals. With 13 points scored, Sidney Love collected her ninth double-digit scoring game. Kyra White recorded a team-high five assists. Deborah Nwakamma and Maya Linton also contributed seven boards apiece. The Roadrunners have been dominant in the paint all season, working the Owls by 38 points to 14 points. UTSA also had the advantage in points from turnovers (20 points to 15), second chance points (11 points to nine) and fast break points (nine points to five). The Roadrunners had 10 more field goals (27/61) than the Owls (17/49), going 44.3 percent from the field. Rebounding was another key component in the UTSA win as the Roadrunners grabbed 45 boards to the Owls' 23 rebounds.
After falling to UTSA in San Antonio, the Owls went on a five-game winning streak to close out the regular season. As a team, Rice leads the conference with a 44.8 field goal percentage and a 28.5 three-point percentage defense. Katelyn Crostwait leads the conference with a 38.6 three-point percentage. Ashlee Austin leads the Owls with 339 points, averaging 12.6 per game. Malia Fisher has a team-high 176 total rebounds, while Destiny Jackson leads the team with 96 assists and 40 steals. India Bellamy leads Rice with 21 blocks.
UP NEXT: The winner of this quarterfinal matchup of No. 6 UTSA/No. 3 Rice will advance to play the winner of the No. 2 WKU/No. 10 UAB in the semifinal round on Friday at 7 p.m.
-UTSA-
