By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Guard Briana Peguero knocked down a 12-footer off the wing with 14 seconds left to help the Houston Cougars hold off the winless UTSA Roadrunners women, 52-48, Saturday night.
Playing at home in the Fertitta Center, the Cougars didn’t have a great night, largely because the Roadrunners played them so hard.
But the Big 12 Conference program made just enough plays in the final minute to stay undefeated after two games under first-year Coach Matthew Mitchell.
The biggest play of all came after UTSA’s Cheyenne Rowe rebounded a free throw miss and hit a layup to bring the Roadrunners to within two with 39 seconds left. At that juncture, the Cougars called time and set up a play.
Inbounding from the side, they went into a dribble weave at the top of the three-point arc. Kierra Merchant tossed it to Peguero, who was three for 15 from the field at the time, and she promptly drained the shot for the final four-point margin.
UTSA, after a timeout, couldn’t score on two chances. Sophomore Mia Hammonds missed a long three, and freshman Adriana Robles had no choice but to throw one up that was blocked to end the game.
With the loss, the Roadrunners fell to 0-2 after opening the season with two road games against power conference opponents.
UTSA, the defending conference champions in the American, took a beating in the opener. The Texas Tech Red Raiders forced 27 turnovers and routed the Roadrunners 79-52 at Lubbock on Thursday night.
With a short turnaround for the second game of the season, the Roadrunners played harder but still made too many mistakes.
In a game they could have won, they led by five points midway through the second quarter and committed too many errors the rest of the way to prevail, even against a team that also seemed to be trying to find itself.
The Roadrunners were a little better in the turnover department than they were in Lubbock — the Roadrunners committed 22 — but they misfired on too many open looks to beat the Cougars.
“Definitely a tough loss,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told Neal Raphael on the team’s radio broadcast. “I think we got a little closer tonight to playing as hard as you have to play at this level. But, we’re a work in progress. We got a lot of things we got to get a lot better at.
“You got to play the games, sometimes, to figure that out. These two games have given us a glimpse of what we need to get better at.”
Merchant carried the Cougars with 21 points, eight rebounds and one assist, which happened to be the one that went to Peguero for the game clincher. Merchant, a two-year Cougars veteran out of Houston’s Westifled High School, hit eight of 18 shots from the field.
As for the supporting performances, Texas A&M transfer Amirah Abdur-Rahim was strong in pulling down 11 rebounds. But she was limited to nine points on four of 12 shooting. Outside of Merchant and Abdur-Rahim, the rest of the Houston squad shot only 10 for 42.
But on the other end, the Roadrunners failed to capitalize, shooting a frustrating 35.6 percent from the field while turning it over 13 times in the first half and nine after intermission.
Aston said the turnovers have been “an issue” for the Roadrunners through the team’s fall training camp. “It’s been a going theme,” the coach said. “We just have to slow down. We’re young. We’re young at the guard position. We have to slow down and not think that everybody has to make a hero play.”
The return of senior point guard Ereauna Hardaway, a transfer and a former three-year starter at North Texas, calmed the team down a little. With Robles starting at the point and Hardaway coming off the bench, the Roadrunners seemed to get better looks at the basket than they did against the Red Raiders.
“I think we were better in a stretch in the second half,” Aston said. “We got a little better. Ereauna is going to help us a lot. I think her coming out after being out for so long, she gave an admirable effort tonight, considering she hasn’t practiced any.
“The more the year goes on, I think she’ll get control of what we need to do, and we’ll get better.”
Forward Idara Udo led the short-handed Roadrunners with 13 points and six rebounds. Rowe had a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Meanwhile, guard Damara Allen scored 11. Hardaway, in her UTSA debut, finished with four points, four rebounds and three assists.
Records
Houston 2-0
UTSA 1-1
Coming up
UTSA at Texas State, Thursday, 6:30 p.m.
Notable
With the victory, Houston won its sixth in a row in games against UTSA and improved to 23-1 overall against the Roadrunners.
UTSA hasn’t won a game against a power conference opponent since 2010. The Roadrunners have dropped 27 in a row in that stretch, including 11 straight since Aston took over as coach in the 2021-22 season.
First half
Merchant scored eight of her 14 first-half points in the second quarter as the Cougars rallied from a five-point deficit to tie the Roadrunners, 27-27.
For the second game in a row, turnovers hurt UTSA. The Roadrunners turned it over 13 times in the half. But, unlike their opener at Texas Tech, they shot the ball with more confidence.
Sophomore Damara Allen scored nine to lead the Roadrunners, who shot 41.4 percent from the floor before intermission. Udo and Hammonds closed the half with seven apiece.