Update: The UTSA women’s basketball team has clinched at least a share of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Roadrunners can finish no worse than a tie for first after Tulsa won at home and beat second-place South Florida 66-58 Wednesday night. UTSA can clinch the title outright, along with the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament, with a victory Saturday at home against the Florida Atlantic University Owls.
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Jordyn Jenkins made three steals in the last two minutes, and Sidney Love knocked down four straight free throws in the last 24 seconds Tuesday night as the record-setting UTSA Roadrunners rallied to defeat the Tulane Green Wave, 77-73, in New Orleans.
UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds against Tulane. She also had two blocks and four steals.
With the victory, UTSA (24-3 overall, 15-1 in the American Athletic Conference) tied a 16-year-old school record for victories in a season and moved to within one win or a South Florida loss of clinching at least a tie for the league’s regular-season title.
The Roadrunners would clinch a tie if South Florida (20-8, 13-2) loses Wednesday night at Tulsa. But if South Florida wins — and the Bulls have won nine in a row — then UTSA can clinch a share on Saturday in their last home game against the FAU Owls.
UTSA’s momentum is undeniable at this juncture of the season. Not only are the Roadrunners on a seven-game winning streak, they’ve also recorded a 17-1 record in their last 18. On top of that, they are undefeated at home at 12-0.
The 2008-09 UTSA team finished 24-9. That year, the Roadrunners tied for first in the Southland Conference West Division with UT Arlington at 14-2, won the SLC’s postseason title and then lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Baylor.
In terms of regular-season championships, UTSA tied for first in its division in both 2011 and 2009 in the SLC. The 2011 team posted a record of 16-15 overall and 11-5 in conference to claim a share of the SLC West before dropping a second-round game in the tournament to McNeese State.
Records
UTSA 24-3, 15-1
Tulane 16-11, 9-7
Coming up
FAU at UTSA, Saturday, noon
UTSA at East Carolina, Tuesday, March 4, 5 p.m.
(end of regular season)
How it happened
For much of the game Tuesday night, the Green Wave played loose and free and kept making three-point shots, holding leads of five over the Roadrunners at halftime and by four at the end of the third quarter.
The Owls continued to play well deep into the fourth, opening a 65-62 advantage at the 3:29 mark on a driving layup by Dyllan Hanna. From there, the Roadrunners’ veteran presence emerged to turn the game in their favor.
After an Aysia Proctor miss, Jenkins scored on a put back to pull the Roadrunners to within one.
Coach Karen Aston has led her team to the brink of a regular-season title and also a possible No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Then, when the Green Wave bobbled the ball out of bounds on one end, UTSA attacked on the other with Love on a driving layup that missed. Continuing the possession, forward Idara Udo rebounded the ball, put it back and converted a three-point play.
The sequence lifted UTSA into a 67-65 lead, and the Roadrunners would not trail again. Afterward, UTSA coach Karen Aston acknowledged the effort of the Tulane players, who put up a battle, knocking down 12 three-point shots.
“You don’t want to just nit-pick your own team,” Aston told the team’s radio broadcast. “You want to give a lot of credit to the opponent, and I thought Tulane played really well today. Shot the ball great. We just found a way to win.”
Jenkins, who played one of her better games of the season, led the way with 24 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Three of the steals came in the last two minutes to blunt Tulane possessions. Love also had a major impact with 14 points and seven assists.
The junior guard from San Antonio-area Steele High School also had four steals and four rebounds. Love had eight points in the fourth quarter, making two free throws twice in the last 24.4 seconds to keep it a two-possession game.
As Aston detailed her thoughts to team radio voice Neal Raphael in the postgame, she made it clear that she wasn’t happy with the team’s first-half performance.
“We were very, a little uncharacteristic of ourselves in the first half,” Aston said. “But I thought we rebounded well, rebounded back into who we are. We were better (after intermission). We withstood a lot of adversity, and that’s what this team is about.”
In their last two games, both on the road, the Roadrunners had to battle into the final minutes to pull out victories. On Saturday in Houston, they went scoreless for more than five minutes and 45 seconds before making a late free throw to Rice, 57-55.
On Tuesday, they had to come from behind in a faster-paced, higher-scoring game, and emerged with the victory, just the same. Aston was upset with what she saw from her players in the first half against the Green Wave, who effectively switched defenses to cause confusion.
Sophomore Aysia Proctor scored 16 points off the bench, including five in the fourth quarter. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Then, when the Roadrunners did get the ball to an open shooter, they couldn’t convert. On the other end, they gave the Green Wave too many open looks at the basket. When Tulane forward Amira Mabry made a three at the buzzer, the home team had momentum going into the dressing room, leading 37-32.
Aston said she told her players in the dressing room that she didn’t like what she had just seen. “You know, I haven’t been hard on these guys at all,” she said. “I think they have given me everything that they possibly have, but I didn’t like who we were in the first half.
“I thought we were disconnected. Didn’t look like ourselves at all. We had a little attitude about us. I don’t know if it was the pressure, or, I don’t know. But we talked about that. I said, ‘If we’re going to get beat, let’s get beat with who we are. Let’s not turn into something we’re not.’
“And I thought they responded to that.”
At the end, Jenkins quieted the crowd with three standout defensive plays. For the redshirt senior known most for her offensive prowess, the best may have been the last steal when she stole a pass near midcourt and raced uncontested for a layup and a six-point lead with 33.4 seconds left.
True to form, the Green Wave answered with a quick three by Victoria Keenan to make it a three-point game with 29 seconds left. Love answered the call at the end by getting to the free-throw line twice and making all four to seal it.
“Jordyn was solid the whole game,” Aston said. “Idara came in and gave us some big buckets late, but I thought Sidney Love was the difference in the game.”
Tulane’s ball handling against UTSA’s defense was another major factor. The Roadrunners forced the Green Wave into 25 turnovers and scored 35 points off those miscues. Tulane forced UTSA into 17 turnovers but converted them into only 15 points.
Individuals
UTSA – Jordyn Jenkins had 26 points, without shooting a free throw, and 10 rebounds for her seventh double double. On one end, she hit 11 of 19 field goals. On the other, she had four steals and two blocks. Guard Aysia Proctor made seven of 12 shots from the floor and scored 16 points off the bench. Starter Sidney Love contributed 14 points and seven assists. Also, four rebounds and four steals. Forward Idara Udo finished with 10 points and eight rebounds after missing her first seven shots from the field.
Idara Udo missed her first seven shots from the field, but she finished strong, totaling 10 points and eight rebounds. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Tulane – Forward Kyren Whittington led the Green Wave with 22 points. She knocked down nine of 14 from the field and four of six from three. Sherese Pittman and Victoria Keenan both contributed 13 points while hitting three three-point baskets. Freshman point guard Kendall had nine points and six assists but turned it over nine times.
First half
The Tulane Green Wave picked up the pace in the second quarter and started running on UTSA. Down by one after the first quarter, they built a seven-point lead with 2:18 remaining.
UTSA retaliated with five straight points, but Tulane responded at the end. Amira Mabry, a Green Wave junior from San Antonio-area Judson High School, hit a three at the halftime buzzer for a 37-32 advantage.
Handling switching defenses that went from man-to-man looks, to zone and back again seemed to fluster the Roadrunners in the first half.
Jenkins shot five for nine from the field, and Proctor hit four for six. But other UTSA players struggled to make shots, some of them with open looks. The rest of the UTSA players were a combined five for 20.
Tulane had a more balanced attack with Whittington leading the scoring with nine. The Green Wave hit 40 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. Pittman hit a couple of threes for the Green Wave.
