SAN ANTONIO – Taylor Ross recalls, as a child, watching her older brother suit up collegiately for Auburn and then Missouri. He was playing the game they both loved in front of packed arenas and national television audiences. She knew then that, someday, she wanted the same experience.
“I still remember when I was like 7 or 8 years old, seeing him on the screen and in front of those big crowds. I wanted to be part of that, I wanted to do that,” Ross said of Earnest, Jr., who now plays for the Guam National Team. “He was definitely my biggest motivation when I was little. Just watching him and seeing everything that he accomplished, it made me want to become that and more.”
A freshman forward on the UTSA women’s basketball team, Ross is in the early stages of her journey to continue her family legacy of success on the hardwood. Seeing limited playing time early in the season, Ross has willed her way into the regular rotation on the court with her tenacity and hard work. Over the last two games – critical American Athletic Conference wins for the Roadrunners against East Carolina and Memphis – Ross averaged 14 minutes per game with 5.5 rebounds per game and 2.5 blocks per game.
“She’s earning her playing time right now by doing the things that other people won’t always do – rebounding, guarding bigger players, diving on the floor and blocking shots,” said Cameron Miles, UTSA’s assistant coach who works directly with the team’s post players. “Those are the things that don’t always show up on the stat sheet. The rebounds and the blocked shots do and I think those things kind of fuel her. She’s a kid that’s hungry for playing time and she’ll do anything and everything she can to get it.”
While it would be easy to focus on points and headlines, Ross’ only concern is contributing to her team’s collective success.
“Being able to help your team win doesn’t always mean scoring all the points,” she said. “It sometimes means being a great teammate, lifting up somebody else that you see is having a bad game. Sometimes it’s doing the dirty work that some people don’t want to do. It can mean assisting. Just doing whatever you can do to help your team win whether you’re on the court or not.”
In the midst of UTSA’s historic season that has the Roadrunners at 22-3 overall and atop the American Athletic Conference at 13-1, fourth-year head coach Karen Aston has been pleased that all of her student-athletes, regardless of playing time, have remained bought in to the process. Ross is seeing the results of that commitment.
“If she didn’t put me in, that’s for a reason,” Ross said. “It means I have to work harder and that’s what I’ve been doing. Every time I didn’t get in the game, it just motivated me to get back in the gym and keep trying. At the beginning of the season, I felt like I was very timid and I wasn’t understanding a lot of things. After being in this program for a while, you realize that sometimes what you’re used to in high school is not going to be what you are in college. You’ve just got to make yourself fit in a program so you can help them. I know once the opportunity presents itself, I won’t fail.”
Ross has appreciated the support from her head coach. It has helped fuel her drive to earn playing time and has eased the growing pains experienced in the transition from high school to college.
“As a freshman, things are going to be tough,” Ross said. “Even after bad practices she will still be like, ‘It’s okay. You’re going to do better and things are going to get better if you just stay locked in and keep working.’ That means a lot.”
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Ross is someone who has never been afraid of the work. Her mother, Regina, set an example that she is inspired to follow daily.
“I saw her work tirelessly when she was in the military,” Ross said. “She used to come home tired a lot and she would cook dinner for us, get up, make us breakfast, take us to school and then have to go to work herself. She would do it all again every day. Thanks to my mom for showing me the way.”
Ross’ mother was also the one who guided her toward basketball the age of four. A passion for the sport quickly developed.
“At first, I actually started by playing soccer,” Ross said. “Right before my first game, my mom was like, ‘This ain’t it.’ She put me in basketball and I’ve just been rocking with it ever since.”
Competing in both volleyball and track in middle school, Ross was a relative late-comer to high-level basketball. But she quickly established herself as a top talent at Brennan High School in west San Antonio and for San Antonio’s Finest at the AAU level.
Ross helped Brennan claim three consecutive District 29-6A Championships and advanced to the UIL State Championships her senior season of 2024. Her final high school team finished the season 32-4 and a perfect 16-0 in district play. Ross was an All-State selection and a two-time member of the All-Region Team, in addition to being named District 29’s Most Valuable Player her senior year.
As a junior in high school, she had no NCAA Division I offers, despite her impressive track record. Ross’ AAU coach, Ray Caldwell, instilled in her the importance of staying the course and focusing on putting in the work.
“I was getting a little discouraged,” Ross said. “I knew I was good enough to play at the next level, so I didn’t understand what was going on. Coach Ray just encouraged me to keep working hard and he didn’t give up on me. All of the coaches that I’ve had have made their imprint in helping me grow as a player and as a person.”
She soon made her way onto UTSA’s radar and it wasn’t long before Ross became a Roadrunner.
“During that summer, we watched her in AAU and we were really impressed by her athleticism,” Miles said. “It was just the pure talent that she had. We did some research and found out that she hadn’t been playing that level of basketball very long, so the sky was the limit for her. It was a no-brainer from there.”
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At 6-foot-1, Ross is slightly undersized to be a post player at the highest level of the collegiate game. Because of that, she’s always had to play smarter and work harder to outmatch her opposition. It’s a challenge that she’s never shied away from.
For inspiration, she’s studied the game of Patrick Beverley, the former Arkansas standout who played a decade in the National Basketball Association despite being only 6-foot-2.
“He’s an annoying defender,” Ross said of Beverley. “I think being physical with some of the posts is really helpful. If you can just use your body a little bit, it really helps you to maneuver and helps you to guard some of these post players. I’m not that small, but I’m still undersized.”
Ross’ ability to adapt and grow at a rapid pace has been one of the major keys to her success at UTSA.
“It’s drastic, actually,” Miles said of Ross’ evolution since she first arrived on campus. “I think the biggest thing for her was just being able to go play to play. On the high school level and the AAU level, there are more breaks in the game than there are on the college level as far as just the playing time. She’s gotten really good at if she made a mistake or if she did something well, just going from that play to the next play. That’s helped her out a lot.”
Not only has Miles helped Ross develop on the court, but he has helped her realize that her abilities are much greater than she could have imagined.
“I love Coach Cam as a post coach,” Ross said. “He’s shown me some moves that I didn’t even know I was capable of doing. He helps me a lot with my footwork and my post work. He has shown me a whole bunch of different aspects of the game.”
Miles, whose older brother C.J. played 16 seasons in the NBA, firmly believes that Ross has the ability to develop into a professional player if she continues to make steady progress towards reaching her potential.
“She’s really talented,” Miles said. “I’ve seen a lot of pros come through the gym and I grew up with a pro, so I know what it looks like. I believe she’s a pro. Obviously there are things she needs to learn like the way to work and certain skills and details about the game, but she has things in her game that you can’t teach. She’s a natural.”
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While Ross was growing up in Military City USA, her hometown team didn’t experience much success. That was, until Aston was hired in March 2021 and changed the trajectory of the program. Ross took notice.
“To see them grow and actually be a part of that, it took a lot to be where we are right now,” she said. “I’m just that much more appreciative of Coach Karen and the culture than I was before.”
Perhaps Aston’s biggest program-changing commitment came when Sidney Love from Cibolo’s Steele High School chose the Roadrunners in early 2022. When Love picked UTSA, a number of local players began to view the program differently, including Ross.
“I thought Sidney Love was a great piece for Coach Karen to pick up,” Ross said. “I remember I played her my sophomore year and she absolutely whooped us. I thought, ‘I need to be around that.’ It’s great being surrounded by local kids and having other people who are just as familiar with this area as you are.”
The opportunity to represent her hometown and help elevate the UTSA program is one that is particularly meaningful to Ross.
“It means a lot to help the City of San Antonio grow and be a part of that,” she said. “I’ve been able to preach to younger kids that it matters what you’re doing so you can help yourself grow and you can help rep wherever you’re from.”
As the Roadrunners have excelled this year – they enter Saturday’s game at Rice just two victories away from tying the school record for most wins in a single season – the attendance at UTSA games has soared. Average attendance at the Convocation Center is 1,094 fans and six consecutive home contests have featured a crowd of better than 1,000 fans.
UTSA seeks to break the all-time single-game attendance record at the program’s home finale on March 1. It will be a full-circle moment for Ross, who will get the opportunity to play in front of a packed house – the kind she dreamed about being part of when watching her brother play all those years ago.
“It means so much,” Ross said. “It motivates you to want to keep doing good so more people can keep coming out and supporting you. I’ve been able to watch myself grow and to watch the community around me grow as well.”