Women's Basketball to host St. Mary's in exhibitionWomen's Basketball to host St. Mary's in exhibition
Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball to host St. Mary's in exhibition

The 'Runners will battle the Rattlers ahead of the regular season

SAN ANTONIO – Fans can get their first glimpse at the 2024-25 UTSA women's basketball team on Friday, as they are set to host crosstown foe St. Mary's in a free-to-enter exhibition bout at 6:30 p.m. For those who can't make it to the Convocation Center, Neal Raphael will deliver all the action on the radio in the greater San Antonio area on The Bull 93.3 FM and worldwide on the iHeartRadio app

The Roadrunners are coming off a stellar season that saw them pick up the program's first postseason victory on March 21, 2024, as they took down Northern Colorado, 80-62, in the First Round of the 2024 Postseason WNIT. 

UTSA is also set for their second season as a member of the American Athletic Conference after going 10-8 in before edging past South Florida in the quarterfinal of the 2023-24 American Championships and falling to East Carolina in the semifinals. The step up in competition didn't faze the Roadrunners, as their league mark represented the first time since the 2016-17 season that UTSA posted a winning conference record, and the 'Runners 18-15 overall mark was the first overall winning record since maintaining a 16-15 record across 2014-15.

UTSA returns a trio of top performers, including junior Sidney Love and sophomores Idara Udo and Aysia Proctor

Love started all but one contest for the 'Runners, finishing second on the team with 106 assists and a team-high 43 steals with 9.6 PPG.

 Udo received an AAC Freshman of the Week honor and figures to play a significant role defensively in 2024-25 after hauling in 195 rebounds with 25 blocks and 15 steals.

Proctor, meanwhile, was a three-time conference Freshman of the Week, becoming the first to win three since Mikayla Woods did so in Conference USA across the 2019-20 campaign. She averaged 9.7 PPG at a 44.8% clip and knocked down the second-most triples on the team, nailing 40 at a 38.5% rate.

Six newcomers were welcomed to the squad, including transfer pieces Nina De Leon Negron (UIW) and Nyayongah Gony (Mississippi State). 

De Leon Negron has been one of the Southland's top point guards, winning SLC Newcomer of the Year in 2022-23, and was an all-defensive team pick ahead of a first-team selection in 2023-24. Including her time at Austin Peay before UIW, she averages 8.19 PPG and 4.4 RPG while dishing out 352 assists.

Gony has appeared in 49 games between stints at Mississippi State and Miami and previously was the top recruit in the state of Nebraska, receiving a four-star rating from both espnW HoopGurlz and ProspectsNation.com.

 True freshman Damara Allen, Mia Hammonds, Taylor Ross, and Emilia Dannebauer round out the roster.

The Rattlers, meanwhile, will look to improve upon a 6-22 record under third-year head coach Valerie Huizar. StMU went 6-16 in Lone Star Conference play and will return three in the form of Stina Svilberg, Sheridan Kavanagh, and Sian Phipps. Svilberg was named one of the LSC's players to watch ahead of the campaign, as she averaged 6.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 1.0 APG across 2023-24.

Keep up with UTSA Women's Basketball  on goutsa.com and by following the program on Facebook at /UTSAWBB, X (Twitter) @UTSAWBB, and on Instagram @UTSA_WBB.

-UTSA-