By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
San Antonio’s Sahara Jones scored five of her team-high 16 points in the last four minutes Thursday to lead the Texas A&M Aggies in their 55-51 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.
In the Aggies’ second game of the season and the Roadrunners’ season opener, Jones, an A&M graduate senior from Veterans Memorial High School, hit five of 10 shots from the field and also played a solid floor game.
She had six rebounds, two assists and a steal for the Aggies, who won their first game of the season and improved to 1-1. In crunch time, Jones scored five of her points in the final 3:41 when the outcome of a tense struggle was hanging in the balance.
Jordyn Jenkins led UTSA with 18 points and 11 rebounds. But UTSA didn’t get too many other players involved as A&M did a good job defensively on the other scoring threats. In the end, the Aggies held the Roadrunners to 33.9 percent shooting from the field
UTSA had a particularly tough day behind the 3-point arc, hitting only 3 of 16 from long distance. For the Roadrunners, it was a heartbreaker that played out in front of 5,000 school kids in College Station, at Texas A&M’s Reed Arena.
Trailing by four points at intermission after a defensive struggle, the Roadrunners caught a spark in the third period. They opened the quarter with an 11-0 run. When Sidney Love hit a pull-up jumper with 5:56 left, UTSA held a 33-26 lead.
At that point, it looked like the Roadrunners might be able to beat a power conference opponent for the first time in 14 years.
But after having a three-seconds call go against UTSA, A&M guard Janae Kent hit a three to spark a 14-5 run to the end of the period. Jones scored seven points in the run for the Aggies, who took a 40-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
UTSA kept battling, and had multiple opportunities down the stretch. Two free throws by Jordyn Jenkins gave the Roadrunners a 44-42 lead with 5:34 remaining.
From there, A&M started to make all the big plays, with guard Taliyah Parker burying a three, lifting the Aggies into a one-point lead. They would not relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
The Roadrunners had a chance going into the final three and a half minutes but couldn’t pull it off. Jenkins grabbed an offensive rebound off a free-throw miss and put it back to tie the game. Her bucket knotted the score 48-48 with 3:23 remaining.
On the other end, Jones hit a driving layup for A&M.
UTSA responded by setting up in the offense but couldn’t get a good shot, with Idara Udo missing from the perimeter. Parker, in turn, responded with a couple of free throws as the Aggies pushed the lead to four.
UTSA had perhaps its last breath of life when Siena Guttadauro drilled a three off an assist from Jenkins. As Guttadauro’s shot hit the bottom of the net, A&M’s lead had been trimmed to 52-51 with 1:53 remaining.
Once again, however, Jones answered for the Aggies
Her driving layup boosted A&M into a 54-51 lead. The Roadrunners, who missed a couple of free throws that could have made it a one-point game with 15 seconds left, never got any closer.
For the Aggies, who play in the Southeastern Conference, one of four power conferences in NCAA Division I, it was a bounce-back win after losing at home Monday to Texas A&M. UTSA, picked to finish fifth in the American Athletic Conference, will return home to play UT Rio Grande Valley on Saturday.
Records
UTSA 0-1
Texas A&M 1-1
Coming up
UT Rio Grande Valley at UTSA, Saturday, 2 p.m.
Notable
The Roadrunners had a chance but fell short, extending their losing streak against power conference programs to 24 games. Coach Karen Aston, in her fourth season, is now 0-8 against teams from the NCAA Division I conferences that generate the most revenue. UTSA hasn’t won a game against a power program since Dec. 16, 2010, when they beat the Big 12’s Kansas State Wildcats, 72-55, at home in the Convocation Center.
Quotable
“I thought we played hard,” Aston said on the team’s radio broadcast. “I don’t think it was that we didn’t play hard or didn’t want to win. So I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed for the kids. But they just executed some things better down the stretch than we did.”
Speaking to UTSA radio voice Neal Raphael, Aston continued: “(They) got to the free-throw line more than we did. It hurt us in the first half. Got out-rebounded. That’s not normal for our team. Free throws ended up being a little bit closer, but we just didn’t shoot the ball great today.
“They were just a little bit, I don’t want to say tougher … But in some moments, they were just a little bit tougher at getting where they wanted to get on the floor than we were.”
Aston acknowledged that A&M’s defense made it difficult for players other than Jenkins to find a rhythm.
“For sure, and we’ll find that,” she said. “You know, it’s a new team. New chemistry … A lot of players are playing different roles on the team. We’ve got to be able to establish those and figure out who we can count on in different moments. That’s going to take some time, I think.”
The Aggies out-rebounded the Roadrunners, 40-37. Offensive rebounds were tied, 15-15. But it seemed that the Aggies made the most of opportunities at critical times.
For instance, when A&M’s Sole’ Williams misfired on a jumper with a little less than five minutes remaining, Parker snared the offensive board. The play led to 6-foot-5 center Lauren Ware’s put back for a two-point A&M lead.
“I just thought they did a better job down the stretch,” Aston said.
Individuals
UTSA — Jenkins, the team’s starting power forward, scored 18 points on seven of 15 shooting. Guard Sidney Love added 10 points and Siena Guttadauro eight. Idara Udo, Cheyenne Rowe and 6-foot-4 newcomer Nyayongah Gony all had tough nights offensively. Combined, they were 1 for 12 from the floor and scored three points. Point guard Nina De Leon Negron had four points and one assist. Playing 20 minutes, De Leon Negron suffered an injury late in the third quarter. She was lifted with a minute remaining in the third and didn’t play in the fourth.
Texas A&M – Jones scored 16 points on five of 10 shooting, including one of three from long distance. She made five of eight at the line. Returning all SEC second-team player Aicha Coulibaly was held to eight points on three of nine shooting, but she had seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Forward Jada Malone had six points and six boards, while center Lauren Ware had five points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks.