Junior Elyssa Coleman will lead the UTSA Roadrunners into today’s road game at Sam Houston State. — File photo by Joe Alexander
By Jerry Briggs
Special to The JB Replay
A women’s college basketball odyssey of sorts is scheduled to come to an end today in Huntsville.
The UTSA Roadrunners are set to complete a season-opening stretch of six games — with five of them on the road — in Huntsville against the Sam Houston State Bearkats.
UTSA (3-2) and Sam Houston State (3-1) are set to tip off at 4 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum. The Roadrunners, 1-0 at home and 2-2 on the road so far, have fared surprisingly well leading into their 20th day of the regular season.
If they can play well and perhaps catch a few breaks against the Bearkats, they could return to San Antonio today two games over .500. At worst, they will have broken even.
Regardless of what happens today, it’s a good sign for a team to be in such a position near the end of the first month of any season, let alone one in which it is playing without its best player.
Jordyn Jenkins, rehabilitating a knee injury, hasn’t been in the lineup yet. Players such as Sidney Love, Kyra White, Elyssa Coleman, Maya Linton and freshman Aysia Proctor have stepped up, leading the first-year program in the American Athletic Conference to a home victory over New Mexico State, along with road wins at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UT Arlington.
In their last outing, on Monday in Lubbock, the Roadrunners played well but dropped a 63-58 decision in Big 12 country against the Texas Tech Lady Raiders.
Against Sam Houston, they’ll hardly be lacking in confidence, though they will need to take care of the ball. After turning it over 31 times at Texas Tech, they’ll play a team that ranks among the nation’s best at creating turnovers. The Bearkats force 26.8 opponent miscues per game.
Sam Houston is making the transition this season into Conference USA. It lost only to Houston and recently claimed a 66-62 victory on the road against Texas State.
Records
UTSA 3-2
Sam Houston State 3-1
Coming up
Texas State at UTSA, Thursday, 5 p.m.