By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The UTSA Roadrunners built an eight-point lead at intermission, expanded it to double digits for much of the second half and then hung on at the end, downing the UNC Greensboro Spartans 62-53 on Thursday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. UTSA will complete play in the Puerto Rico Clasico on Friday against Towson.
“Really pleased with the win,” UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston told the team’s radio broadcast. “I thought this was going to be a tough game. Thought we did a pretty good job on defense, and we just didn’t shoot the ball well.”
The Roadrunners finished the game with 32.8 percent shooting from the field but dominated on the boards, winning the rebound battle 40-21, including 16-3 on the offensive end. UTSA also handled the ball fairly well. Playing against a team that forces 21 turnovers a game, the Roadrunners committed 13.
Aston said she wasn’t surprised that her team, tied for No. 2 in the American Athletic Conference in field goal percentage, didn’t shoot well.
“You don’t necessarily anticipate shooting … great in an atmosphere like this,” she said. “We hadn’t been in the gym yet. We didn’t get a chance to come in here yesterday.
“We’ll play in a different gym tomorrow. And that’s just kind of the way these tournaments go, so you have to have a calling card,” the coach added. “You have to rely on your defense.”
Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 14 points and nine rebounds. Maya Linton scored 11 while making two 3-pointers. Linton also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Idara Udo scored 10 and pulled down seven rebounds, including three on the offensive end.
Puerto Rico native Nina De Leon Negron had five points, six rebounds and four assists. De Leon Negron struggled shooting the ball, hitting only one of nine. De Leon Negron’s backcourt mate, junior Sidney Love from San Antonio-area Steele High School, had seven points, five assists and four rebounds.
Forward Cheyenne Rowe led the reserves with eight points and five rebounds off the bench.
For the Spartans, who had their four-game winning streak snapped, Jayde Gamble led with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists. Guard Jaila scored 10 and made a couple of triples.
The Towson Tigers (0-6) will play their first game in the Clasico on Friday against the Roadrunners. Towson opened the season with losses to West Virginia, George Mason and Morgan State. The Tigers most recently have dropped games to Maryland, George Washington and Liberty.
Records
UTSA 5-1
UNC Greensboro 6-2
Coming up
UTSA vs. Towson, Friday, 1 p.m.
Third quarter
Jordyn Jenkins hit a couple of free throws and a layup in the last few minutes of the period as the Roadrunners expanded their lead on the Spartans to 48-35.
First half
Junior forward Maya Linton hit a three in the final seconds of the half, lifting UTSA into a 35-27 lead on UNC Greensboro.
Linton made two of UTSA’s four threes over the first two quarters. She led the Roadrunners in scoring with 10 points, while Idara Udo scored eight. Jordyn Jenkins, UTSA’s leading scorer, was held to four points and sat out much of the second quarter with two fouls. Nina De Leon Negron also had four.
Jayde Gamble scored 10 in the half for the Spartans, while Jaila Lee added eight.
Notable
Like the UTSA Roadrunners, the UNC Greensboro Spartans enter the new season trying to take the next step toward an NCAA tournament berth.
Last year, the Spartans finished 21-12 and 8-6, tied for second in the Southern Conference. After winning twice in the SoCon postseason, with a berth in the NCAA tournament on the line, they lost in the finals to Chattanooga. UNC Greensboro accepted a bid into the WNIT and dropped a first-round game to North Carolina A&T.
This season, in coach Trina Patterson’s ninth at the school, the Spartans have started fast. Losing in their third game on the schedule, they have won four straight leading into Puerto Rico, beating Appalachian State, UNC Asheville, Livingstone and South Carolina State.
Playing on the road at South Carolina State, UNC Greensboro registered 14 steals, forced 27 turnovers and romped to a 53-35 victory. Defensively, the Spartans were good in all areas, holding the home team to 32 percent shooting from the field.
Guard Jayde Gamble, a returning first-team all conference player, had 16 points and five steals in the game. Gamble is averaging 13.3 points, four rebounds and 2.8 steals for the season. Jaila Lee is another threat, averaging 11.6 points.