Tag Archives: Karen Aston

Defending champion UTSA women are faced with injury concerns

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The defending conference champion UTSA Roadrunners were happy Tuesday night with the turnout to their annual preseason potluck supper with fans and boosters. In Coach Karen Aston’s first year on campus, she said only about 10 people attended.

Leading into her fifth season, the event has grown, with dozens of people in the stands watching practice and later gathering at tables spread out over one of the side courts at the Convocation Center.

There, they shared laughs, pasta and other assorted home-made dishes.

Clouding an otherwise light mood, a ripple of concern centered on a growing number of injuries leading into Saturday’s home exhibition against Texas A&M-San Antonio, which will be followed by a regular-season opener on Nov. 6 in Lubbock against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

In an afternoon practice that lasted less than an hour, only eight of 15 players on the roster were active and going through drills on halfcourt offense.

Among those sitting out were young standouts Taylor Ross and Sema Udo, who were both wearing leg braces and walking with the aid of crutches. Another concern is forward Maya Linton, one of the best defensive players in the American.

Aston didn’t want to go into the specifics on the injury situation.

“We’ll make some announcements,” the coach said. “We’ve got some season-ending injuries. So we’ll make probably a collective announcement before our first regular-season game.

“We don’t want to do it right now. We don’t want to disclose the information before we go to Lubbock. But we will do it. We’re not going to try and keep anything from anybody because they’re season ending.”

Junior center Idara Udo was the only starter from last year’s 26-win team to participate in practice on Tuesday.

Others working out were returning players Mia Hammonds, Damara Allen and Emilia Dannebauer, plus transfers Ereauna Hardaway and Jayda Holiman and freshmen Adriana Robles and Sanaa Bean.

Among the other notables sitting out the practice was Cheyenne Rowe, who was wearing a walking boot. Both Rowe and Linton were major contributors on a team that forged a 17-1 record in conference last season.

Starters from last year who have moved on in their careers are Jordyn Jenkins, Nina De Leon Negron and Sidney Love. While both Jenkins and De Leon Negron are pursuing professional careers, Love is now playing for UTSA’s opening-day opponent — Texas Tech.

New-look UTSA women reload after a championship season

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UTSA's Ereauna Hardaway is a senior point guard from Jonesboro, Ark., and North Texas. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA newcomer Ereauna Hardaway is a senior point guard from Jonesboro, Ark. She played three seasons at North Texas, averaging 10 points and 3.5 assists last year as a junior. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

With Jordyn Jenkins and Nina De Leon Negron pursuing professional basketball careers, and with Sidney Love now suiting up for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, the UTSA women are forging ahead without the leadership core that led the team to a school-record 26 wins and a regular-season conference championship last season.

Karen Aston. UTSA beat Florida Atlantic 60-52 on Senior Day to clinch the American Athletic Conference regular-season title on Saturday, March 1, 2025, at the Convocation Center.

Fifth-year UTSA coach Karen Aston signed a contract extension through 2030 after leading the Roadrunners to the American Conference regular-season title. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“We’ll be different,” fifth-year UTSA coach Karen Aston said Wednesday. “We have a different team.” But, that’s not to say the Roadrunners won’t be good again. Far from it.

Nine players return, mixing with six newcomers, on the 15-player roster. The Roadrunners will have some experience to lean on with four seniors, four juniors and four sophomores, including promising returning wing players Mia Hammonds and Damara Allen.

They’ll also have athleticism and length, with four players listed at either 6-foot-4 or 6-3.

Returning starters include center Idara Udo and forward Maya Linton. Forwards Cheyenne Rowe and Nyayongah Gony also figure to be in the rotation, though the multi-skilled, 6-4 Gony is working her way back from a knee injury that limited her to 12 games last season.

Newcomers to watch are senior transfer Ereauna Hardaway and freshman Adriana Robles, who split time at Wednesday’s workout running the team at point guard.

Freshman forward Sema Udo, Idara’s younger sister, is also an athlete that appears to have skills and athleticism to make an immediate contribution.

“I love all the newcomers,” Aston said. “But it is really a meshing process. It’s going to take some time.”

The Roadrunners will face a challenging early schedule. They’ll play four power conference programs, including Texas Tech, Houston, Auburn and Baylor. They’ll also play three teams — Grand Canyon, Baylor and Columbia — that reached the NCAA tournament last year.

UTSA finished 26-5 last season, including 17-1 in the American Conference. The Roadrunners registered a 13-0 record at home. Jenkins was the Player of the Year in the American, while De Leon Negron and Love supplied steady leadership as the starting backcourt.

Taking a 26-3 record into the postseason, the Roadrunners lost to Rice in the American tournament opener and then fell on the road at Gonzaga in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.

UTSA's Sema Udo is a freshman forward from Plano East High School. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA’s Sema Udo, the younger sister of junior center Idara Udo, is a freshman forward from Plano East High School. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Aston has put her players through three extended practices as they ramp up preparations for the Nov. 6 opener at Texas Tech.

A few injuries and illnesses have held the Roadrunners back recently, the most notable being a lower left leg injury to promising sophomore forward Taylor Ross. Aston said Ross’ availability is expected to be clarified in a few weeks.

Guard Siena Guttadauro is new mother, having given birth to a son, Dante, on July 24. She played in just five games last season before learning that she was pregnant, according to a story by Sean Cartell on the UTSA athletics website.

Aston said it’s good to have the native Californian back on the team but cautioned that “it’ll be awhile” before she is ready to play.

UTSA roster

x-Sema Udo, 6-0 freshman forward
Siena Guttadauro, 5-6 redshirt junior guard
x-Ereauna Hardaway, 5-8 senior point guard
x-Saher Alizada, 5-10 junior point guard
Damara Allen, 5-10 sophomore guard
Mia Hammonds, 6-3 sophomore guard
Nyayongah Gony, 6-4 redshirt senior forward
x-Sanaa Bean, 6-3 freshman forward
x-Jayda Holiman, 5-6 junior point guard
Taylor Ross, 6-1 sophomore forward
x-Adriana Robles, 5-5 freshman point guard
Maya Linton, 5-11 senior guard
Cheyenne Rowe, 6-2 senior forward
Idara Udo, 6-1 junior forward
Emilia Dannebaurer, 6-4 sophomore forward/center

x-newcomers

Notable

The UTSA women will participate in Rowdy Jam on Oct. 16 at the Convocation Center. It’ll be the fans’ first opportunity to see the UTSA women and men on the court.

The event starts at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Cupid, the Linedance King is scheduled to perform.

On Oct. 25, the women will host Texas A&M-San Antonio in an exhibition, followed on the same day by the men against Incarnate Word. The women’s game is set for 1 p.m., followed by the men at 3:30.

The season opener for the women is set for Nov. 6 at Texas Tech. Love, a three-year UTSA starter, transferred to play for the Big 12 Red Raiders last summer.

UTSA had four guards transfer out of the program, including Love, Aysia Proctor (to North Texas), Alexis Parker (to Lamar) and Emma Lucio (Southeastern Louisiana).

UTSA's Adriana Robles is a freshman point guard from Arecibob, Puerto Rico, and Fossil Ridge High School. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Adriana Robles has played internationally for her native Puerto Rico and emerged as a standout at Fort Worth’s Fossil Ridge High School. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA’s Aston receives contract extension through 2029-30

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UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston has received a five-year contract extension through the 2029-30 season.

Aston’s extension will start at $375,000 in 2025-26. From there, it will increase to $385,000 in ’26-27 and to $415,000 for the final three seasons through ’29-30. The contract runs through March 31, 2030, according to UTSA.

After starting at UTSA in 2021-22, Aston inherited a team that had won only two games at 2-18. In her tenure, she has improved the program gradually, building to last year’s run to the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.

The Roadrunners, led by forward Jordyn Jenkins, reached the WBIT national postseason tournament and finished 26-5.

Jenkins named AAC player of the year as four UTSA women win postseason honors

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA women’s basketball team cleaned up with four individual postseason awards Friday a year after they didn’t get any, another sign of growing respect for the Roadrunners in the American Athletic Conference.

Two of the awards were fairly obvious to everyone after the Roadrunners rolled to a 26-3 record, including 17-1 for the AAC regular-season championship, and those included Jordyn Jenkins as player of the year and first-team all conference, and Karen Aston as coach of the year.

Two others honored included point guard Nina De Leon Negron and forward Idara Udo. De Leon Negron, a transfer from the University of the Incarnate Word, was newcomer of the year while both players were all-conference second team.

Jenkins led the AAC in scoring with 18.7 points per game. She also showed off a multi-faceted skill set with 6.9 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks. Offensively, she was efficient, hitting 48 percent from the field, 36 percent from three and 82 percent at the free-throw line.

The honor was the second for Jenkins in her UTSA career. In her first season in San Antonio after a transfer from Southern Cal, she was named in player of the year in Conference USA for the 2022-23 season.

In April of 2023, she suffered an offseason knee injury that forced her to miss most of 2023-24 season in rehabilitation.

During the time that she couldn’t play in games, she worked extensively on skill development. It led to her developing a more dependable three-point shot to add to her prowess in the post and the mid-range.

With more versatility, she ended up scoring 20 or more points in eight of 16 conference games this season.

“The only surprise to me was that she wasn’t unanimous,” Aston said.

Aston was a unanimous selection for coach of the year after leading the Roadrunners to a historic season, including their first AAC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in tournament. UTSA’s 26 wins are a program record, while their 17 conference victories are the second-most in AAC history.

De Leon Negron was a steadying influence as the team’s primary playmaker, while Udo helped make UTSA the conference’s best in rebounding.

“I told the group a few minutes ago, anytime you get an individual award, it’s based on what the team does,” Aston said. “It’s a team award, and I think that those two feel that way, that everyone’s been a part of these individual awards that are being given, but there’s no question they showed a true reflection of senior leadership this year.

“I mean, they produced and it’s always about production in this business, but their leadership skills were tremendous, along with (guard) Sidney (Love). You know, Sidney’s was tremendous and she didn’t rewarded for that, but again, she got rewarded with a championship.”

Another possible oversight in the awards was the absence of UTSA forward Maya Linton from the all-defensive team.

Notable

UTSA will play in the AAC tournament at Fort Worth as the No. 1 seed, starting Monday at noon in the quarterfinals against either the UAB Blazers or the Rice Owls.

The Roadrunners likely will need to win three games in three days for the conference’s postseason championship to get rewarded with a trip to the NCAA tournament.

In other words, even if they win twice and reach the finals and lose in the title game, it’s uncertain whether they would get an NCAA at-large bid.

If the Roadrunners fail to make the 68-team NCAA field, they are assured of a spot in the 32-team Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.

Aston said UTSA has an automatic bid to the WBIT based on its regular-season title, and she confirmed that UTSA would play in that tournament if it is not selected for the NCAA.

Last season, the Roadrunners were ousted in the second round of the AAC tournament and played in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), reaching the second round.

UTSA women hope to clinch AAC title outright on Saturday

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Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat Tulsa 64-53 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Jordyn Jenkins is averaging an AAC-leading 18.7 points for the Roadrunners, who have forged a 24-3 record with two games remaining in the regular season. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In a pre-game ceremony set for 11:40 a.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center, the UTSA Roadrunners will honor forward Jordyn Jenkins and guard Nina De Leon on a Senior Day spiced with championship implications.

Afterward, the UTSA women will tip off at noon against the Florida Atlantic University Owls, hoping to win and clinch sole ownership of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament.

If they beat the Owls, they could lose in the regular-season finale on Tuesday at East Carolina and still finish ahead of both the South Florida Bulls and the North Texas Mean Green in the standings.

Nina De Leon Negron. UTSA women's basketball beat Sam Houston State 79-36 on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Point guard Nina De Leon Negron has contributed 9.6 points, 5.3 assists and 5.2 rebounds for the Roadrunners, who have already clinched at least a share of the AAC regular-season title. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Earlier this week, the Roadrunners claimed at least a share of the championship, and now they want it all in front of a crowd that school officials hope will eclipse the school record attendance of 2,000.

Jenkins, who is making a strong bid for AAC Player of the Year honors, ever-so-cautiously declined to speculate on how it would feel to clinch at home.

“I would always say I’m trying to stay grounded and stay in the present, because it’s easy to get ahead of myself and already see confetti and already (see myself holding) the trophy above my head,” she said Friday afternoon. “So, I just try to think about what I’m going to have for dinner tonight.”

The AAC women’s tournament opens in Denton at the Super Pit on March 8. It will shift to Fort Worth and Dickies Arena on March 9. UTSA, with a double bye through the first two rounds, will open in the quarterfinals on March 10.

What the Roadrunners have accomplished is nothing short of remarkable. Picked in the preseason to finish fifth in the AAC, they have won 17 of their last 18 games for a 24-3 record. Their record in conference is a robust 15-1. Moreover, they’re 12-0 at home going into their final regular-season home game.

Still, they won’t be assured of an NCAA tournament berth unless they can win three in a row in Fort Worth for the automatic bid. It’s a thought that is troubling to coach UTSA coach Karen Aston.

“After going through this, I think it is tragic that conference (regular-season) champions don’t get automatic bids,” she said. “I mean, I’ve been processing all of this. Like, how do you keep us out of the tournament, if we don’t win the conference tournament?

“This is a team that has sustained excellence for a really long period of time, which is how you win a conference. You (probably need) some luck somewhere along the way. Which, we probably did at Memphis. But you also have something in you, to get through this whole 18-game process.

“I think that’s what I appreciate the most (about the Roadrunners). I want for them to win the (AAC) tournament. I want them to go to the NCAA tournament so bad, for them. But I am more proud of this. Because it’s so difficult … It takes a really special group to do what we’re doing.”

Aston said she doesn’t even want to start thinking about what it will be like once the season is over and Jenkins and De Leon Negron have moved on in their careers.

While Jenkins bounced back from a knee injury that caused her to sit out all but the final 17 games last year, De Leon Negron traveled a hard road, moving from her native Puerto Rico to the United States as a teenager, speaking mainly Spanish at the time, and then forging her college career at three schools.

Last summer, De Leon Negron joined the UTSA program as a transfer from the University of the Incarnate Word, from one San Antonio-based NCAA Division I program to another.

“I’m just trying to enjoy the journey with this group,” Aston said. “It’s one of those teams you’re going to look back on and, like, they don’t make ‘em like this very often. This is a group that I told (them) a month or two ago that they better enjoy this, because it just doesn’t come around like this very often.

“What I will appreciate most (about Jenkins and De Leon Negron) is their leadership, and it’s been constant,” the coach added. “It’s been Nina coming in and getting her feet wet and understanding what the team needed and Jordyn becoming Jordyn again, really, after what she went through (last year).

“They almost like met in the middle. In the middle of the summer, and they realized that we could be special and that they were going to take the reins of that. I mean, it’s their leadership Their numbers are great. Their performances are great, and all of that. But what I will appreciate most are the efforts they’ve made off the court to make this team really special.”

De Leon Negron lauded Aston, describing her as a caring mentor for everyone on the team.

“I want to shout out coach,” De Leon Negron said. “And I know Jordy feels the same way. Because we talk about this all the time. But with transfers … and experiencing different coaches, I always tell the girls, like, we get (to have) a good year.

“We have a coach that just cares about everybody.”

Speaking directly to the coach in the news conference, De Leon Negron told Aston, “It’s kind of like I want to tell you, I really appreciate you and every time I feel like I’m not good mentally and I come into your office, you always make me feel better. So, just never change . So always keep being that person for everybody.”

Blushing at her lead guard’s comments, Aston said, “I’m too old to change.”

Records

FAU 10-19, 2-14
UTSA 24-3, 15-1

Coming up

UTSA at East Carolina, Tuesday, 5 p.m.
(end of regular season)
UTSA in AAC tournament quarterfinals, at Fort Worth, Monday, March 10, opponent and time, TBA

Excitement reigned when when UTSA clinched an AAC title

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Karen Aston. UTSA beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 62-43 in non-conference women's basketball on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Karen Aston’s Roadrunners have clinched at least a share of the AAC regular-season title. They’ll try to win it outright Saturday at home against Florida Atlantic. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Just about the same time that the UTSA basketball radio show ended Wednesday night at the Chicken N Pickle restaurant, the fourth quarter of the South Florida at Tulsa women’s game had just begun.

Most of the UTSA boosters and even assistant coaches for the Roadrunners’ women’s program had left the premises.

But UTSA head coach Karen Aston, a few administrators and some of the program’s most ardent supporters decided to stay and watch, sensing the possibility that they might get to share in a special moment in each other’s company.

“We were just talking, and the game got close and I was like, ‘Let’s just sit here and finish it,'” Aston said.

It was a good call by the coach, as Tulsa defeated South Florida, and UTSA clinched at least a share of the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.

An emotional moment, to be sure. Because in 2020-21, UTSA women’s basketball was in dire straits, finishing 2-18.

And now, in Aston’s fourth season, the UTSA women have romped to a 24-3 record, including 15-1 in the AAC, with two more to play in the regular season.

So, given all that has transpired, were there any tears shed at the Chicken N Pickle on the night that the Roadrunners could call themselves champions?

In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Aston sidestepped the question.

“Oh, just excited, more than anything,” the coach said. “Just wanted to relay (the news) to the (players) and congratulate everybody. It was obviously an unexpected surprise. Not surprised necessarily that Tulsa won. But it was unexpected.”

Moving forward, UTSA has a home game set for Saturday at noon against Florida Atlantic and a Tuesday night road test against East Carolina.

A victory in either game would clinch the regular-season title outright and also the No. 1 seed in the upcoming AAC tournament.

Aston noted that the Nos. 1, 2 and 3-ranked teams all lost their first games in quarterfinals matchups last year, so it’s hard to say that seeding provides that much of a competitive advantage.

The importance of winning the regular season, the coach said, is just in winning it, period. And now with the opportunity to clinch outright at home on Saturday on Senior Day? In front of what could be a record crowd at the Convocation Center?

“That’s pretty special,” she said.

Aston, in her 17th year as an NCAA Division I head coach, is regarded as one of the best in the business.

The former head coach of the Texas Longhorns has won 347 games, has achieved a winning percentage of about 63 percent in her career and has led her teams to seven NCAA tournaments, including four trips to the Sweet 16 and one to the Elite Eight.

This year’s regular-season title is her first.

Asked what it meant to get it done with her current group, she acknowledged that it’ been “extremely rewarding.”

“This has been a wonderful group to work with,” she said. “I couldn’t have scripted a better group to really go on this experience with. It’s been quite a journey. I’ve really, really enjoyed it, and (I’m) enormously grateful to everyone involved.”

UTSA women playing for high stakes today at home against Memphis

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Karen Aston. UTSA beat Temple 70-61 on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, at the Convocation Center in American Athletic Conference women's basketball. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston’s American Athletic Conference-leading UTSA Roadrunners will shoot for their 15th straight win at home today. Tipoff against Memphis is at 2 p.m.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Coach Karen Aston’s UTSA Roadrunners have always dreamed of playing in the NCAA tournament, but not until this season have they won enough games through the middle of February to be regarded as the favorite in their own conference to claim a coveted bid.

In the last two years, the Roadrunners have made enough noise to this point in the season that they entered the NCAA discussion. But never have they achieved so much with five games remaining in the regular season to claim status as the team to beat.

UTSA hopes to burnish its reputation even further today.

Winners of 21 of 24 games on the season and 14 of their last 15 overall, the first-place Roadrunners host the Memphis Tigers at 2 p.m., wondering in the back of their minds what it would really feel like to see the name of their school in the 68-team NCAA bracket next month.

On one hand, they are faced with the here and now. The Roadrunners nearly lost at Memphis last month, winning 70-68 with a frantic fourth-quarter rally, so they know how hard it will be to beat a team like this for the second time in 32 days.

Then again, as far as the rest of the world in NCAA Division I women’s basketball is concerned, UTSA is in the driver’s seat in the American Athletic Conference. According to ESPN, the Roadrunners are favored to claim the AAC’s automatic bid into the 68-team field.

But here’s where it gets complicated. There are two avenues into the NCAA bracket, the automatic and the at large bid. For UTSA, the automatic is the one avenue upon which it can go about its usual business and control its own destiny.

If they stay hot and keep winning, and they win the AAC tournament in Fort Worth next month, they get the auto bid and the ticket to the Big Dance. Anything less than that, however, it’s a slippery slope toward being left out.

For instance, if the Roadrunners win the regular season title, claim the No. 1 seed in the AAC tournament and then lose in the finals, their fate will be in the hands of an NCAA committee to decide if they are deserving of an at-large bid.

At the moment, if the ESPN analysis is correct, it appears the second-place South Florida Bulls might be the conference’s only hope of snagging one of the at-large spots. The Bulls are the only team in the American on a list of teams ranked just outside the field of 68. They’re ranked 73rd.

Earlier this week, Aston was asked if she was coaching her team as if she believed it needed to sweep to the AAC postseason title to earn its way into the NCAA tournament, and she declined to comment directly, implying that she might have something to say on that front in about 10 days.

So, stay tuned.

Records

Memphis 6-17, 4-8
UTSA 21-3, 12-1

Coming up

Memphis at UTSA, today, 2 p.m.
UTSA at Rice, Saturday, Feb. 22, 4 p.m.
UTSA at Tulane, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 6:30 p.m.
Florida Atlantic at UTSA, Saturday, March 1, noon.
UTSA at East Carolina, Tuesday, March 4, 5 p.m.
(End of regular season)

AAC standings
(Women’s basketball)

UTSA 12-1, 21-3
South Florida 10-2, 17-8
North Texas 10-3, 18-7
Tulane 8-4, 15-8
Temple 8-5, 14-10
Tulsa 6-6, 12-12
UAB 6-7, 15-10
Rice 5-7, 12-12
East Carolina 5-8, 13-12
Memphis 4-8, 6-17
Charlotte 3-9, 8-15
FAU 2-10, 10-15
Wichita State 2-11, 8-18

Saturday’s games

Charlotte at East Carolina, 1 p.m.
South Florida at FAU, 1 p.m.
Memphis at UTSA, 2 p.m.
North Texas at Tulsa, 2 p.m.
Rice at Wichita State, 2 p.m.
Temple at Tulane, 3 p.m.

UTSA women have 20 wins in mind as they prepare for a road test at Wichita State

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

A 20-win season is in reach for the surging UTSA Roadrunners.

Karen Aston. UTSA beat Temple 70-61 on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, at the Convocation Center in American Athletic Conference women's basketball. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Karen Aston’s first-place UTSA Roadrunners lead in the AAC standings by one game in the loss column over the South Florida Bulls. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston’s first-place Roadrunners (19-3, 10-1) will play on the road against the Wichita State Shockers (8-16, 2-9) in an American Athletic Conference game that tips off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena.

UTSA has won 20 in a season only three times in the first 43 years of the program. The Roadrunners first hit the plateau in 1983-84 when they went 21-6 under Coach Bill MacLeay. They did it again in 2007-08 and ’08-09 when they carved out back-to-back marks of 23-10 and 24-9, respectively, under Rae Rippetoe-Blair.

For Aston, winning 20 would be a meaningful milestone because she has always thought it represented a successful season. It might be more meaningful for the fourth-year coach this time, considering UTSA was 2-18 in 2020-21, the year before she was hired.

Aston has won 20 eight times in her 16 previous seasons as a head coach. She reached the plateau twice in four years at Charlotte and six times in eight seasons at Texas.

The Roadrunners are on a roll, registering a 12-1 record in their last 13 games. The only loss in the streak came Jan. 22 at South Florida. On that day, they played without star forward Jordyn Jenkins for the only time this season and fell 75-63 to the Bulls.

UTSA, in its last two games, played at home and downed a pair of AAC challengers in the Temple Owls and the North Texas Mean Green. Against North Texas on Tuesday night, Jenkins produced 26 points and eight rebounds, Idara Udo notched a double double and Sidney Love blocked a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer. The Roadrunners came away with a 54-52 victory.

The Roadrunners are trying for a series sweep against Wichita State. They beat the Shockers 69-51 on Jan. 11 in San Antonio.

Men’s basketball

Meanwhile, the UTSA men will play later Saturday at home in the Convocation Center when they host the East Carolina Pirates. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m.

The Roadrunners (10-12, 4-6) lost the first game in the second half of the AAC schedule in heartbreaking fashion Wednesday night, allowing the Tulane Green Wave to erase a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes to win 61-60. Marcus Millender scored a career-high 28 points in the loss.

The Pirates (12-11, 4-6) also lost a home game on Wednesday, falling 73-60 to the Rice Owls.

Only two losses, and it’s Jan. 21? ‘Pretty amazing,’ Aston says

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston could not ask for much more than what her players have given at this point in the season.

Karen Aston. UTSA women's basketball beat UAB 67-56 in an American Athletic Conference game on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Karen Aston’s UTSA Roadrunners (16-2) will take a nine-game winning streak into a Wednesday night home game against Tulsa. – File photo by Joe Alexander

The Roadrunners, at 16-2, have emerged as one of only 19 teams in the nation in NCAA Division I that have lost two or fewer games over the first two and a half months.

“I think it’s pretty amazing,” Aston said Tuesday. “I really do. I think the amount of work that our staff and players have put into what I call, a product, you know, a product that the community can be proud of, a product that UTSA can be proud of, I think it is absolutely incredible where we are today.”

From November, through December and into the first three weeks of January, most of the big news around the team has centered on the winning streaks.

They won seven straight last fall. Now, they’ve won nine in a row leading into Wednesday night’s home game against Tulsa.

One more victory and the Roadrunners will have tied for the second-longest streak in school history, trailing only the record of 13 set in the 2002-03 season.

But what jumped out over the weekend was the dwindling number of teams around the nation that have lost two or fewer games. After Saturday night, the number was 20.

Now it’s down to 19, after Tennessee lost to Vanderbilt in Nashville on Sunday. Twelve of the 19 teams on the list play in Power 4 conferences — in the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC or the Big 12 — and one more — Connecticut — plays in the basketball hotbed of the Big East.

UTSA, meanwhile, remains as one of only six squads in the nation at the sub-power conference level that have two or fewer losses, with the others being Montana State (17-2), Grand Canyon (17-2), Quinnipiac (15-2), Buffalo (15-2) and Harvard (14-2).

What does this mean in UTSA’s quest to reach the 68-team NCAA tournament?

The speculation is already starting to percolate, as the team is rated 65th in the nation today on the NET national ratings system. Moreover, Charlie Creme’s tournament projection at ESPN.com has the Roadrunners making the field and slotted in as a No. 12 seed.

Then again, as Aston said recently, it’s way too early to guess what might happen. It seems Creme thinks UTSA will win the AAC tournament, which would yield the conference’s NCAA automatic bid. But if they fail to win it, then their chances are greatly diminished.

It’s just not certain that the Roadrunners could do enough between now and, say, a runner-up finish in Fort Worth, to secure what would be an at-large NCAA berth. On top of all that, they have teams like Tulsa coming at them nightly, trying to knock them off.

“There’s so much more work to be done,” Aston said Tuesday. “You don’t want to rest on your laurels, so to say, and be happy with where you are. I’m proud. Really, really proud. I think the challenge is just to stay focused and stay humble.

“I don’t even have to talk about it … They have a goal. They understand what they’re trying to get accomplished. So I think they’re staying pretty grounded with the ‘next game’ mentality. Because of our leadership, I wouldn’t expect it to be any different.”

With that being said, Aston continued, “You can’t get around the acknowledgment that it’s pretty amazing what we’ve accomplished so far, over the last four years.”

Records

Tulsa 9-9, 3-3
UTSA 16-2, 7-0

Coming up

Tulsa at UTSA, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Two losses or less

Here is the list of teams with two losses or less in NCAA Division I women’s basketball:

x-LSU 20-0
x-UCLA 18-0
x-TCU 19-1
x-Kansas State 19-1
x-South Carolina 18-1
x-Ohio State 17-1
x-USC 17-1
x-Kentucky 16-1
x-Texas 18-2
y-Connecticut 17-2
x-Minnesota 17-2
z-Montana State 17-2
z-Grand Canyon 17-2
x-Notre Dame 16-2
x-Maryland 16-2
z-UTSA 16-2
z-Quinnipiac 15-2
z-Buffalo 15-2
z-Harvard 14-2

x-Teams from Power 4 conferences
y-Teams from the Big East
z-Teams from non-Power 4 conferences

Coach touts Maya Linton as ‘the difference’ for UTSA against Tulsa

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Maya Linton. UTSA beat South Florida 65-42 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Maya Linton and others held the leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference to 10 points in Saturday’s 60-53 road victory at Tulsa. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

UTSA coach Karen Aston on Monday praised junior forward Maya Linton for her effort on the defensive end in a 60-53 victory Saturday at Tulsa.

Linton held Golden Hurricane star Delanie Crawford to 10 points as Roadrunners won their fifth in a row and improved to a school-record 12-2 record, including 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference. Crawford, the AAC’s leading scorer at the time, was held to 3 of 13 shooting from the field.

“Really proud of our team’s resiliency at Tulsa,” Aston said. “I thought that was a hard-fought game. Both teams played really hard. I just thought that we showed some toughness and resilience in that game, for sure.”

Aston said that Linton, a 5-foot-11 junior from Duncanville, was “the difference in the game.”

“No question about it,” the coach said on her weekly zoom call with the media. “Delanie Crawford is a wonderfully-gifted offensive basketball player. I just thought Maya committed to being unconcerned about other things … and just made it difficult for her to get shots off.”

The coach said “a lot of different people” guarded Crawford but she said Linton sets the tone for the team defensively.

Coming up

As play in the American continues, the UTSA men (6-7, 0-1) will host Tulsa (6-9, 0-2) on Tuesday at 7 in the Convocation Center, and the women will host the defending AAC tournament champion Rice Owls (8-6, 1-1) on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Notable

Despite 17 points and nine rebounds from UTSA forward Raekwon Horton, the short-handed Roadrunners men suffered a 92-63 loss at Tulane on Saturday afternoon. Tulane manufactured a 15-0 run early in the game to take charge. The Green Wave led 47-23 at intermission and by as many as 35 points in the second half.

UTSA played without 6-foot-11 center Mo Njie for the second game in a row. Coach Austin Claunch said that Njie has a foot injury and might be out for between “a couple of weeks” and a month. “Obviously we really, really miss his size,” the coach said. “That’s a tough break. More than that, just the spirit he plays with. He’s (rehabilitating) every day and when we get to that point in February, maybe he can get back in and help us.”