
Nina De Leon Negron, wearing the gold ‘Cash In’ chain, shouts her approval after the Roadrunners ascended from a six-point deficit in the final eight minutes to beat the Rice Owls by nine. – Photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
The victories just keep on coming for the UTSA women, even without one of their best players on the floor.
On a night when Sidney Love sat out with an illness, Jordyn Jenkins produced 21 points and 14 rebounds, leading the UTSA Roadrunners to their sixth straight victory, a 67-58 decision over the Rice Owls Wednesday at the Convocation Center.
In winning their ninth in a row at home dating back to last season, UTSA improved to a school-record 13-2 and to 4-0 in the American Athletic Conference.
Led by a couple of strong and mobile post players, the Owls led by as many as nine points in the second quarter and by five at intermission.

Jordyn Jenkins scored seven of her team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as UTSA rallied to defeat the defending American Athletic Conference tournament champions. – Photo by Joe Alexander
They were up by six after three periods and by six with 7:54 remaining, but they couldn’t hold on as the Roadrunners exploded past them, 24-9, in the fourth.
“The best thing I can say about this game is that we showed some resilience,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “It wasn’t by any means our best performance. I think we’ll take some things from this game. We had a lot of young guys in the game. (Now) we actually have film to show them and have some teaching moments.”
Fourth quarter magic
For the second straight time in a game at home for the Roadrunners, they fell behind in the fourth quarter and rallied to win.
They did it on New Year’s night in a 67-56 victory over the UAB Blazers. Against UAB, UTSA trailed by one twice early in the fourth and then rumbled to the win behind Jenkins, who scored nine points in the period on four of five shooting.
Things looked a little more dire for the Roadrunners against the Owls when Sussy Ngulefac muscled inside for a basket and a 53-47 Rice lead with 7:54 remaining. From there, UTSA outscored Rice 20-5 the rest of the way.
Highlights of a 20-5 run
# A sequence in which Jenkins hit a jumper on one end, forced a turnover on the other, and then hit a three at 6:40 that gave UTSA its first lead (by one) in the period.
# An offensive rebound in traffic by the 5-foot-6 De Leon Negron, who drew a foul and sank two free throws at 5:41 for another one-point UTSA lead.
# A struggle under the UTSA basket that ended with both Jenkins and Rice’s Hailey Adams hitting the floor — and fouls called on both players.

Freshman Damara Allen scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter, on three for three shooting to help rally the Roadrunners. – Photo by Joe Alexander
# Moments later, consecutive buckets by De Leon Negron, the second of which came on a drive through traffic to put UTSA up by four at 2:06.
# And, finally, a blocked shot by Idara Udo that led to a three-point basket by freshman Damara Allen for the final points of the game at 0:28.3.
A crowd of fewer than 1,000 fans roared for Allen and the Roadrunners, who continue to inspire championship hopes with the best start after 15 games in the program’s 44-year history.
As usual, Jenkins was at the center of it all. She keyed the late rally by scoring seven of her 21 points in the final eight minutes. In that time, she hit three of four from the field, grabbed four rebounds and had a steal.
Afterward, she praised Allen, who also had seven points in the rally. Jenkins said she isn’t surprised that the freshman is playing well, noting that she started making noise in practices as far back as last summer.
Jenkins smiled when asked about her fall to the floor and the double foul call down the stretch. She said of the Owls, “They’re trying to take me out of the game. But I love the physicality. Bring it on.”
Records
Rice 8-7, 1-2
UTSA 13-2, 4-0
Coming up
Wichita State at UTSA, Saturday, noon
Individuals
Rice – Forward Sussy Ngulefac hit seven of 11 shots and scored 16 points to lead the Owls. Forward Malia Fisher, one of the Rice veterans who played a major role in last year’s run to the NCAA tournament, had 14 points and six boards. Guard Dominique Ennis, another returning starter from Rice’s AAC tournament title team, scored 11.

Rice sophomore Hailey Adams, from San Antonio’s Clark High School, had seven rebounds, five points and three assists in front of an enthusiastic cheering section at the Convocation Center. – Photo by Joe Alexander
UTSA – Jenkins, who scored 30 in a victory at Tulsa on Saturday, shot seven of 18 from the field and came up big in the fourth quarter with seven points and four rebounds. De Leon Negron had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Freshman Damara Allen, who started at shooting guard in place of Love, scored all seven of her points in the final quarter, hitting three for three from the field.
Notable
Playing without Love, the Roadrunners started slowly. The Owls held the Roadrunners to 13 points in the first quarter en route to a 36-31 lead at halftime.
Ngulefac led the Owls with 10 points in the half, while De Leon Negron had 11 to pace the Roadrunners.
A spokesman said Love didn’t play because she was ‘feeling under the weather.’ Coach Karen Aston said she didn’t know if Love would play Saturday against Wichita State. The junior from Steele sat on the bench in a sweat suit.
Another key player, reserve forward Nyayongah Gony, also did not play. Gony wasn’t on the bench during the game or on the floor for warmups. The team’s spokesman said he didn’t know why she didn’t play.
As for Saturday’s opponent, the Wichita State Shockers fell to 7-10 on the season and 1-3 in conference after getting blow out at home, 72-46, by the surging South Florida Bulls.
South Florida is 11-6 and tied for first in the AAC with UTSA at 4-0.

Foul-plagued UTSA sophomore Idara Udo had five blocked shots in 19 minutes against the Rice Owls. – Photo by Joe Alexander