By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
UTSA’s best season in 16 years came to an end Thursday night in Spokane, Wash. Employing a stifling defense and riding the offense of fifth-year senior forward Yvonne Ejim, the home team Gonzaga Bulldogs defeated the Roadrunners 67-51 in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
The Roadrunners kept the crowd at the McCarthey Athletic Center quiet for only the first few minutes of the game, hitting three 3-point shots in the first five minutes and forging a 17-11 lead. After that, it was pretty much all Gonzaga the rest of the way.
Ejim, from Alberta, Canada, showed off skills on both ends of the court. Not only did she help defend UTSA standout Jordyn Jenkins on one end, she also hit 10 of 15 shots and scored 24 points on the other. Under the boards, she proved to be equally relentless, pulling down a game-high 16 rebounds.
Jenkins, the Player of the Year in the American Athletic Conference, had 14 points and eight rebounds in her last game for the Roadrunners. Defended and sometimes doubled with taller players, the 6-foot redshirt senior from Renton, Wash., couldn’t get much going, finishing four of 13 from the field.
As a team, UTSA didn’t have much spark on the offensive end. The Roadrunners shot 31 percent from the field, including 27 percent in the second half. The 51 points matched the team’s effort in a 55-51 loss on opening day at Texas A&M as the lowest output of the season.
“I just thought they were a lot better than we were today,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told Neal Raphael on the team’s radio broadcast. “I thought they were tougher. Obviously their best player played really, really well and showed why she’s who she is. You know, we just didn’t have the toughness that it took to come in here and win a game on the road.
“They shot the ball really well. We had to be really, really good today to beat them on their home court and we just weren’t. I thought we hung in there as long as we could and we just couldn’t make shots. We didn’t have enough people to make shots. That’s totally what it boiled down to.”
With the victory, the 23-10 Bulldogs will move on to face the Colorado Buffaloes in the WBIT’s second round on Sunday. The loss, meanwhile, will send UTSA home with a final record of 26-5. The team won the AAC regular-season title with a 17-1 record, established a program best with 26 victories and went 13-0 at home in the Convocation Center.
Perhaps the only season in the history of women’s basketball at the school that might rival this one would be 2008-09, when the Rae Rippetoe-Blair coached Roadrunners went 24-9, won the Southland Conference title and reached the NCAA tournament, losing by five on the road in the first round to the No. 2 seed Baylor Bears.
“We had a great year,” Aston said. “Super proud of ’em. For lack of a better word, we just ran out of gas.”
Speaking on the last postgame radio broadcast of the season, Aston thanked the fans for turning out and supporting the team. The regular-season finale on March 1 set a school record with 2,500 fans on a day when the Roadrunners clinched the AAC regular-season crown outright and cut down the nets.
“It’s been a special ride,” the coach said. “I appreciate everybody that’s been a part of it. You always hate for a season to end. But I’m extremely proud of how we played.”
Records
UTSA 26-5
Gonzaga 23-10
Notable
UTSA played without guard Aysia Proctor, a key contributor in the Roadrunners’ drive to the AAC title. Proctor, a sophomore from Clemens, averaged 4.5 points in 20 minutes per game off the bench this season. Meanwhile, for Gonzaga, the season continues Sunday with a second-round meeting against the Colorado Buffaloes. Colorado advanced with a 73-41 victory over Southeastern Louisiana.
Individuals
UTSA – Outside of Jenkins, guard Sidney Love emerged as the only other player who made much of an impact on the offensive end. Love produced 15 points, three rebounds and two assists. Love hit five of 12 shots from the field and five of seven at the line. Forward Idara Udo started off well, scoring seven in the first half. But after intermission, she didn’t score, getting herself into foul trouble and later fouling out. Nina De Leon Negron, the Newcomer of the Year in the AAC, had five points and four rebounds in her last game at UTSA.
Gonzaga – Yvonne Ejim was the story for the Bulldogs. Outside of her 24 points and 16 rebounds, she also played the passing lanes and picked up seven steals. A few of her teammates also chipped in with major contributions. Guard Allie Turner scored 13 points and knocked down three 3-point shots. With her long-range shooting, Turner became the school’s single-season leader with 98. Maud Huijbens, a 6-foot-3 post player, had 11 points, three rebounds and two steals. Ejim’s 10 of 15 shooting from the floor allowed Gonzaga to hit 45.5 percent for the game.
First half
After a slow start, Bulldogs rolled to a 36-27 halftime lead.
Ejim, the West Coast Conference Player of the Year, scored 17 points to lead the Zags. On the last play of the half, she stole the ball under the UTSA basket, broke out on the dribble and went all the way to the other end, Euro-stepping her way to a driving layup at the buzzer.
Ejim finished the half shooting seven of eight from the field. The Zags, as a team, shot 51.9 percent. After the opening five minutes, the Roadrunners’ offense scuffled. At the end of the first quarter, in the face of a tricky halfcourt trap, they turned it over five straight times.
As a result, the Zags scored 12 straight points to the end of the period, pushing out to a 23-17 advantage.
Idara Udo scored seven points in the half for the Roadrunners, and star forward Jordyn Jenkins had six. Gonzaga held Jenkins to two of seven shooting. The Roadrunners shot only 35.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes.