By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
After losing by 17 points in Tampa against the South Florida Bulls on Tuesday night, the UTSA Roadrunners wanted to make amends when they tipped off in Boca Raton against Florida Atlantic on Friday.
Ereauna Hardaway scored a season-high 20 points on seven of 11 shooting from the field. She was four for five beyond the 3-point arc. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Ultimately, the UTSA women played more to their potential against the Owls in the second game of a two-game American Conference road trip, rolling to leads as large as 41 in the second half en route to an easy 79-42 victory.
UTSA’s winning margin of 37 points was the widest in a regular-season conference game or in any road game in Coach Karen Aston’s five years at the school. The Roadrunners beat Sam Houston State by 43 at home in a non-conference game on Dec. 7, 2024.
With the victory, the Roadrunners (9-7, 4-1) regained the swagger more befitting of the defending champions in the American.
“We had great energy just from the jump,” Aston told Neal Raphael on the team’s radio broadcast. “Our defense was really, really good in the first half. Not as good in the second, but I just thought we were very intentional with how we played the game today.”
The Owls (8-10, 2-4) entered the evening hoping to extend a two-game win streak in the American, but they never could figure out the Roadrunners on either end of the floor.
On the offensive end, UTSA played with a high level of efficiency, shooting a season-high 53.7 percent from the field. Ball movement was a key, with the Roadrunners scoring 29 field goals on 18 assists, with only 13 turnovers.
North Texas transfer Ereauna Hardaway scored 11 of her team- and season-high 20 points in the second quarter, when the Roadrunners blew the game open. The 5-8 senior hit seven of 11 shots from the field, including four of five from behind the 3-point arc.
Forward Cheyenne Rowe had 19 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
In addition, freshman guard Adriana Robles played one of her better games of the season with 10 points and four assists. When she took a charge on a drive in the first half, her teammates hailed her effort with a raucous cheer.
Mia Hammonds produced seven points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Damara Allen scored eight to go along with her team-high five assists. Nine UTSA players scored, notably, Siena Guttadauro with her first two points since returning to active status on Jan. 3.
Defensively, the Roadrunners smothered a smaller Owls team, not allowing much of anything within 15 feet of the basket. The Owls hit only five field goals in the first half for a 20-percent reading from the field.
A 40-percent shooting team for the season, they finished with 27 percent for the game, including three of 17 makes from three-point distance. Starting forward Vivian Onugha led the Owls with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Records
UTSA 9-7, 4-1
FAU 8-10, 2-4
Coming up
East Carolina at UTSA, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Notable
Rice leads the conference with a 4-0 record, followed by East Carolina, South Florida, North Texas and UTSA, all at 4-1.
The Roadrunners entered the day ranked 129th in the nation among 363 teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool metric, while Florida Atlantic came in at 217.
UTSA scored its third-most points in a game this season, behind only 86 against Prairie View A&M and 82 versus Texas A&M-Kingsville. UTSA’s 10 three-point baskets ranked second, behind only the 12 makes against Kingsville.
Florida Atlantic’s 42 points were the fourth fewest by a UTSA opponent, behind 40 by Prairie View and Kingsville and 41 by Texas State.
Injured UTSA athletes not playing include Idara Udo and Maya Linton, both of them starters on last year’s 26-5 team. Udo has played 10 games this year, but has sat out the last six with a lower leg injury. Linton has not played.
Neither one of them, however, are listed as out for the season in the conference’s availability reports.
First half
Hardaway led a dominant effort with 15 points as the Roadrunners pushed out to a 41-16 halftime lead. The 41 points tied a UTSA season-best in a half.
Hardaway scored 11 of her points in the second period, when the Roadrunners outscored the Owls, 23-7.
From the start, the Roadrunners completely throttled the Owls, who entered the night with two straight wins in the American.
FAU was held to three of 15 shooting in the first quarter and two of 12 in the second. In the half, the Owls scored only two two-point field goals.
Offensively, the Roadrunners moved the ball well and effectively looped passes inside against a smaller front line. The ploy worked, with UTSA shooting 59 percent in the half.