Junior guard Sidney Love is a returning two-year starter for the UTSA Roadrunners, who finished 18-15 and reached the second round of the WNIT last season. – File photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Finally, the UTSA women’s basketball team on Friday night will welcome fans and players from another university into the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners will host the St. Mary’s University Rattlers in an exhibition starting at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
“It’s been a long, hard summer,” UTSA guard Sidney Love said. “We’ve been grinding since June, so we’re ready to make our hard work pay off.”
Coming off an 18-15 run to the second round of the WNIT for their best season in 15 years, the Roadrunners will take the floor tonight with high expectations.
In the Rattlers, the Roadrunners likely will get their first test of an underdog opponent who will play with passion, trying to knock them off.
When they face a more talented team, as they will next Thursday at Texas A&M in the regular-season opener, they’ll be confronted with foes that will lock in mentally, knowing that UTSA might have the talent to spring a surprise. Even on the road, against the nation’s power elite.
Basically, everyone they play will be in upset mode, on high motor, high alert, or a combination of all of the above.
“Every year I’ve been here, we’ve been doing better each season,” UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins said. “You know, I think the challenges are just whatever we have within ourselves. You know (I think) it’s going to be us that’s going to hold us back. We have a lot of talent. We have some newcomers that really get our chemistry going.”
Notable
The game will mark the fans’ first chance to see the fourth edition of Coach Karen Aston’s Roadrunners in action against an opponent. A program that won two games in the season before Aston’s arrival won 18 games last year for the most in a season since 2008-09. The basketball program is in its 44th season overall and its second in the American Athletic Conference.
UTSA roster
Siena Guttadauro, 5-6 guard, junior from San Jose, Calif.
Alexis Parker, 5-9 guard, junior from San Antonio (Brandeis High School)
Emma Lucio, 5-9 guard, sophomore from Edinburg (Vela High School)
Damara Allen, 5-10 guard, freshman from Aurora, Colo.
Mia Hammonds, 6-3 guard, freshman from Cibolo (Steele High School)
Nyayongah Gony, 6-4 forward, redshirt senior from Lincoln, Neb., transfer from Mississippi State, also formerly of the University of Miami
Nina De Leon Negron, 5-6 guard, graduate senior from San Juan, Puerto Rico, transfer from the University of the Incarnate Word, also formerly of Austin Peay
Sidney Love, 5-8 guard, junior from Cibolo (Steele High School)
Aysia Proctor, 5-8 guard, sophomore from Schertz (Clemens High School)
Taylor Ross, 6-1 forward, freshman from San Antonio (Brennan High School)
Maya Linton, 5-11 forward, junior from Duncanville
Cheyenne Rowe, 6-2 forward, junior from Ajax, Ontario, Canada; played for UTSA last season as a transfer from James Madison
Idara Udo, 6-1 center-forward, sophomore from Plano
Jordyn Jenkins, 6-0 forward, redshirt senior from Kent, Wash., played the past two seasons at UTSA, transfer from Southern Cal
Emilia Dannebauer, 6-4 forward-center, freshman from Berlin, Germany