By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Short-handed in the front court with an injury to Idara Udo and others, the UTSA Roadrunners found a way on Saturday.
They held on at the end of a tense struggle in Philadelphia to beat the Temple Owls, 50-47, behind a 14-point, 18-rebound performance from senior forward Cheyenne Rowe.
It was Rowe’s third double-double of the season and her second in two close American Conference victories.
“I thought she was a monster,” UTSA coach Karen Aston told the ESPN broadcast team. “She was very determined, on the boards, in particular. We’re obviously short-handed, and she was a beast.”
UTSA (7-6, 2-0) has won its first two games in American without Udo, who has been out for the past three games, and without three other power forwards who are out for the season.
The Roadrunners escaped the Liacouras Center victorious with a strong defense, holding the Owls (6-7, 0-1) to 27 points on 9 for 44 shooting through three quarters.
UTSA, the defending conference champions, built a 14-point lead late in the third and then fended off a charge at the end to claim its 11th straight regular-season conference victory dating back to last season.
Last year’s team won the conference with a 17-1 record.
“I thought we played really (resiliently) today,” Aston told the ESPN broadcasters. “We’ve had a lot of adversity this year. We’ve got kids out. You know, this group is growing up. We’re really super young. A lot of them haven’t been in this moment before.
“…I can’t say enough about how great my staff is doing with the preparation and how locked in the kids are. I mean, they’re really trying. They really want to be good.”
UTSA won in spite of some poor offensive execution. The Roadrunners shot only 34 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from the three-point line. From three, they hit only two out of 14.
At the end, in the final nine seconds, the Roadrunners missed three out of four free throws, leaving the door open for the Owls to send the game into overtime.
With Temple down by the eventual final score, the Owls failed to capitalize. Coming out of a timeout, they got the ball to guard Tristen Taylor, who missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer.
Rowe was the difference for the Roadrunners, as the senior from Canada made four of 13 from the field and six of six at the free throw line. On the boards, she pulled down four offensive and 10 defensive boards for her career high.
Damara Allen finished with 12 points, and Mia Hammonds and Ereauna Hardaway added 10 apiece.
For the Owls, Taylor scored 18 points and Drew Alexander added 11, including nine in the fourth quarter on three 3-pointers.
Kaylah Turner, the leading scorer in the conference, averaging 17 points per game, couldn’t get going. She was held to seven points on 3 for 18 shooting. One of the most prolific three-point shooters in the nation, Turner hit only one of seven from beyond the arc.
Records
UTSA 7-6, 2-0
Temple 6-7, 0-1
Coming up
Charlotte at UTSA, Saturday, Jan. 10, noon.
First half
Rowe asserted herself with six points and four rebounds in the second quarter, leading the Roadrunners into the dressing room with a 25-18 lead at intermission.
With UTSA outscoring Temple 18-10 in the second, Damara Allen, Mia Hammonds and Adriana Robles also played key roles.
Allen scored four points on a couple of strong moves to the rim with left-handed layups. Hammonds also had four points in the period, one on a drive through traffic for a layup.
On another play, Robles and Hammonds trapped Temple star Kayla Turner and forced a turnover. Robles picked up the loose ball and tossed ahead to Hammonds for a layup.
The Owls made a play at the end to stem the Roadrunners’ momentum, with Turner getting a steal off Ereauna Hardaway and driving for a layup with one second left.
For Turner, the leading scorer in the American Conference, it was only her second field goal. The Roadrunners held her four points on two of 10 shooting.
Neither team could execute in a first quarter that ended with the Owls holding an 8-7 lead. Temple shot 4 of 19 in the period to UTSA’s 3 of 15.
Notable
Once again, the Roadrunners started the game with a two point-guard lineup, with both Ereauna Hardaway and Adriana Robles on the floor, along with Damara Allen on the wing.
Starting forwards were Cheyenne Rowe and Emilia Dannebauer.
Cleared to play for the first time this season, UTSA guard Siena Guttadauro played seven minutes off the bench and misfired on all three field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers. She sat out the team’s first 12 games. Guttadauro gave birth to a son, Dante, on July 24.
With Guttadauro in the lineup again, it left the Roadrunners with six scholarship athletes on the inactive list. Besides Udo, power forwards who are out for the season include Nyayongah Gony, Taylor Ross and Sema Udo.
Sema Udo is Idara Udo’s younger sister.