By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA guard Kierra Merchant attended so many college basketball games as a kid, she says she can’t really remember the first one. She guesses that it might have been when she was in seventh grade.

That game was in Lubbock, she recalled, at Texas Tech.

“I didn’t really play basketball, but after I went to that game, it made me want to take (it) a little more seriously,” she said. “I loved the atmosphere. I loved everything about it.”

The atmosphere at the UTSA Convocation Center on Wednesday seemed equally well-received by hundreds of school children attending on “Education Day.”

Just before tipoff, a staffer with a cordless mic stood on the court, facing children in three sections of the west grandstands. Pointing to each section one by one, he asked the kids for their loudest cheer. On cue, each section responded with shrieks that echoed off the rafters in the 50-year-old building.

Afterward, the cheers were still raining down on the Roadrunners after they rolled to their first win of the season, 73-51, over the Incarnate Word Cardinals. Merchant and Adriana Robles led the way with 15 points each.

Asked later what she hoped the kids took away from the experience, Merchant, a transfer from the University of Houston in her first year at UTSA, said she hoped it lifted them in the same way that the game boosted her spirits as a young athlete.

“I just hope we’re inspiring them, especially if they play basketball,” she said. “I hope that they want to be where we’re at one day.”

The Roadrunners, who shot poorly in a season-opening, two-game road trip, reversed fortunes and had a good day in their home opener. They hit 31 of 57 shots from the field for 54.4 percent.

Leading 35-29 against the Cardinals at halftime, the Roadrunners broke away in the second half, building leads as large as 26 points with 4:32 remaining.

The lopsided win was well-received in the UTSA camp after dropping two games against top 100-ranked programs, falling 69-51 at UNLV last Friday and 65-56 at San Diego State on Sunday.

In the two games combined, the Roadrunners made only 38 of 120 field goal attempts for 31 percent. Against the Cardinals, they hit 31 of 57 overall, including 15 of 25 in the second half. Meaning that, after intermission, UTSA connected on 60 percent.

“I thought we played with a lot more intention today offensively,” coach Karen Aston said. “We’re obviously three games into this. It’s a young season so far. The West Coast was a tough trip for us. For us to come back and have a day of prep for this game against what I will say is a very much improved UIW team, I just thought that we did a lot of things better on both ends of the floor.”

With the victory, UTSA improved to 5-2 in the all-time series against UIW. The Roadrunners are 4-0 against the Cardinals at home. UTSA and UIW are the only two NCAA Division I women’s basketball programs in the city of San Antonio.

For the Roadrunners, Merchant and Robles elevated their games.

Merchant came off the bench and played 25 minutes. In that time, she knocked down seven of 11 from the field, including two for two in the third quarter when the Roadrunners started to break the game open.

Robles, a starter, came out firing. In the first quarter, she hit both of her field goal tries, including one three, and also passed for an assist and added two steals. She finished with game highs of four assists and three steals in a team-leading 29 minutes.

Playing with a brace on her right knee, senior forward Idara Udo also enjoyed a productive afternoon with 12 points in 23 minutes. She knocked down six of eight from the field.

Redshirt sophomore forward Taylor Ross, in her second strong game in a row, contributed nine points and five rebounds off the bench in 18 minutes.

As UTSA stepped up the pressure early, UIW didn’t back down.

The Cardinals stayed in the game with junior guards Kayanna Cox and Gwendolyn McGrew stroking shots from the perimeter. Cox scored 12 in the half and McGrew 11, with both combining for five of eight shooting from beyond the arc.

McGrew was especially effective, connecting on all three of her three-point attempts. UTSA did a better job on the two of them after intermission. Running several defenders at each one, Cox scored only four points and McGrew two over the final two quarters.

Regardless, the narrative of the day centered on the improvement of the offense.

“We were a lot more intentional, the way we played,” Aston said. “The shots went in because we took better shots. We were more patient, moved the ball better, played a little more inside out than we have been. I think even when we took maybe ill-advised shots … there was better adjustment. Maybe that wasn’t great. Let’s get back to moving it.

“In the first few games, we weren’t able to maybe catch our breath enough to go, OK, we need to do something different. We weren’t able to process that as well as we did today.”

Records

UIW 1-2
UTSA 1-2

Coming up

Louisiana at UTSA, Monday, 6:30 p.m.

First half

Idara Udo and Kierra Merchant scored eight points apiece as the UTSA offense came alive in the first half, surging to a 35-29 lead on the Incarnate Word Cardinals.

In the game played at UTSA’s Convocation Center, the Roadrunners shot 16 of 32 from the field for 50 percent after hitting only 38 of 120 afield in their first two games.

UTSA came out with a different look to start the game, with Adriana Robles at the point, Mia Hammonds and Maya Linton on the wings and Praise Egharevba and Udo in the post. Linton made her first start of the season, while Damara Allen came off the bench.

Notable

Even though shooting woes continued to haunt UTSA junior forward Mia Hammonds, she enjoyed her best game of the season, leading the team in the plus/minus column with a plus 23.

Hammonds finished with five points and a team-leading seven rebounds in 23 minutes. She also had three assists and a steal.

For the season, the former standout at San Antonio-area Steele High School has hit three for 24 from the field. She hit two for eight against the Cardinals.

Aston said Hammonds supplies energy “that can be super positive, if she puts her mind in the right space.” She did that against UIW, using her agility and 6-3 frame to get on the boards and play the passing lanes.

“Today, she was there,” Aston said. “I’m really proud of her because she did struggle in the first two games. For her to re-set, it took some maturity. It took some care about our team for her to re-set herself and say, ‘Ok, I’ve got to be better. I need to do the little things.

“I need to do something that’s going to help our team win.”