Rice women upset top-seeded UTSA in AAC tournament

UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins, the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, scored a game-high 22 points as the Roadrunners fell to the Rice Owls in the AAC tournament quarterfinals. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Rice women’s basketball team cooked up some of its American Athletic Conference postseason magic on Monday in Fort Worth, upsetting the top-seeded UTSA Roadrunners, 62-58.

As a result, the No. 9 Owls will move into the semifinals with two victories under their belt, hoping to repeat last year’s four-game run that ended with a trophy for the AAC crown and a ticket to the NCAA tournament.

The loss leaves UTSA’s postseason destination in question.

At 26-4, the Roadrunners will hope for an at-large bid into the NCAA. But perhaps a more realistic path forward will lead to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, or, the WBIT.

Guard Sidney Love matched her jersey number with 11 points and had five assists for the Roadrunners. – Photo by Joe Alexander

As the AAC’s regular-season champions, UTSA is an automatic qualifier for the WBIT and is expected to play in it should the program not receive the NCAA invitation.

On Monday morning, UTSA earned mention as a team receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time in the program’s 44-year history.

In turn, Rice seemed undeterred by the prospect of facing a team that had won nine straight games and had swept through the AAC regular season with a 17-1 record.

For the most part, the Owls carried the fight to the Roadrunners in the game played at Dickies Arena.

Rice outplayed UTSA in both the second and third quarters and then withstood a UTSA charge in the fourth to salt away the victory.

“I’m just really, really proud of our fight and our preparation for this game today,” Rice coach Lindsay Edmonds said. “We had a little bit of a get-back mentality. We’ve had two battles (with UTSA) this season that we felt could have (gone) our way but didn’t.”

In the first of two regular-season meetings, UTSA roared from behind with a 24-9 fourth quarter to beat the Owls 67-58 on Jan. 8 in San Antonio.

In the rematch, on Feb. 22 in Houston, UTSA jumped out to a 22-6 lead deep into the first quarter and then held on to win 57-55 when Rice’s Dominique Ennis missed a three at the buzzer.

“Today we wanted to play 40 minutes, and we did that,” Edmonds said. “It was a well-balanced attack … a great win. Really, really impressed with our composure and poise.”

Karen Aston. Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston’s Roadrunners will leave Fort Worth with a 26-4 record. They’re guaranteed a bid in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament if they don’t get an at-large bid to the NCAA, – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA started a run at the outset of the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points in an 11-3 stretch over five minutes and 20 seconds. When Jordyn Jenkins hit a driving layup, the Roadrunners pulled to within 52-51 with 4:40 remaining.

From there, Rice guard Victoria Flores nailed two three-point shots to ignite an 8-0 run, lifting the Owls into a 60-51 advantage and sending UTSA into scramble mode.

In the final 1:41, the Roadrunners could get no closer than the final margin of four, and that came with no time left on the clock when Jenkins followed in a missed three at the buzzer.

“Sometimes you need a little time to reflect on a loss like this,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “(Rice) played with a lot of intention, a lot of energy today, and we couldn’t seem to match it.

“We tried. I thought there were times that we tried to rally ourselves in timeouts, but we just couldn’t match the energy they played with.”

Senior Malia Fisher led the way for the Owls with a team-high 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Fisher assisted on the three that gave the Owls the late nine-point lead.

Also, freshman Aniah Alexis enjoyed her second strong tournament game with 15 points and nine rebounds. Ennis scored 13.

For the Roadrunners, Jenkins scored 22 points but missed her first eight field goal attempts and finished nine of 25 from the floor. The AAC Player of the Year also had seven rebounds and two steals.

Cheyenne Rowe scored 12 points on five-for-five shooting, and guard Sidney Love added 11. Nina De Leon Negron struggled, shooting zero for nine from the field. She produced two points, six rebounds, three assists and a couple of steals.

Records

Rice 16-16
UTSA 26-4

Coming up

The NCAA bracket will be revealed on Sunday. If the Roadrunners don’t get a bid, they’re expected to play in the WBIT. First-round WBIT games are scheduled for March 20.

First half

Fisher and Alexis combined for 18 points in the first half as the Owls took a 32-28 lead on the UTSA Roadrunners.

Nina De Leon Negron. Top-seeded UTSA lost to ninth-seeded Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA point guard Nina De Leon Negron had two points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. She shot zero for nine from the field. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice held Jenkins scoreless in the first period and for much of the second before Jenkins came alive with seven before halftime.

Both teams went without scoring a point for almost the first three minutes of the game before UTSA’s Idara Udo hit a jumper with 7:14 remaining.

UTSA kept battling and forged a five-point advantage with 39 seconds left on a Cheyenne Rowe driving layup.

Fisher, who scored eight in the quarter, hit a shot at the end to bring Rice to within 13-11.

In the second quarter, the Owls picked up the pace, with Alexis stroking jumpers from the perimeter.

The freshman from Cypress Lakes High School in Waller scored eight in the quarter.

Notable

Rice played on Sunday in the second round and advanced through to the quarterfinals with a 76-63 victory over the UAB Blazers. In that game, Alexis led the Owls with 18 points and five rebounds.

UTSA was playing its first game in the tournament, as it had claimed a double bye to the quarterfinals by way of a top-four finish in the regular season.

The Roadrunners had reached the conference tournament semifinals in each of the past two seasons, in Conference USA in 2022-23 and in their first year in the American last year.

Cheyenne Rowe. Top-seeded UTSA lost to ninth-seeded Rice 62-58 in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth on Monday, March 10, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Forward Cheyenne Rowe hit five for five from the field and scored 12 points off the bench. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA men just needed to ‘exhale’ before ending their six-game skid

Austin Claunch. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Austin Claunch exhorts senior Primo Spears during Sunday night’s blowout victory over the Rice Owls. Spears and sophomore Marcus Millender scored 25 points apiece and combined for nine three pointers. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

For the past few weeks, UTSA coach Austin Claunch has tried to find the key to unlocking his players’ potential as a team. Just how, during a six-game losing streak, could he get them to finish games that they often started so well and then frittered away at the end?

Following a loss in overtime last Sunday at East Carolina after they led by nine with 13 minutes left in regulation, they came home and, basically, did nothing for three days. They rested and recharged. Then they returned to work on Thursday to open a stretch of three straight days of practices.

Back together again, they preached composure. Talked about keeping a cool head while playing their frenetic style. The strategy worked well on Sunday night as they blew out the Rice Owls in the second half of an 84-56 victory at the Convocation Center.

Marcus Millender celebrates after hitting a second-half 3-pointer. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Marcus Millender made nine of 10 shots from the field en route to 25 points against Rice. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Afterward, guards Marcus Millender and Primo Spears flanked Claunch in the post-game press conference, and the coach talked with some passion about how the team managed to climb out of its funk to start the last week of its run through the American Athletic Conference schedule.

“I’ve been through a similar stretch,” Claunch said. “Listen, at the end of the day, these two guys (Millender and Spears) are every day guys. They’re going to play basketball for a long time. There’s going to be other years that maybe it doesn’t go exactly as it’s planned and what’s been frustrating about this stretch is, you don’t even feel like you’re close. You feel like you’re there.

“You just got to make one more play. But, again, it says a lot about these guys’ character, and how they were raised and who they are. You guys see all the close games, but you don’t see, like, we’re having great practices. And that is why we’re in these games even when we’re losing.

“That’s why we had three incredible days of practices (leading into the Rice game). Obviously we’re the last team with the bye (into the upcoming AAC tournament), and we had three days off. We didn’t do anything Monday through Wednesday, and, you know, these guys just need to exhale a little bit.

“Tonight was just a product of three really good days (of practice) and then just trust and leadership, starting with these two, but everyone. Damari (Monsanto), it’s not always about shooting threes, he’s plus 19 out there. He was the Texas Tough winner.

“And I thought Tai’Reon Joseph, Jo (Smith), the bench, just came in and provided incredible energy.

“It’s about time Bab (freshman Baboucarr Njie) dunked one. I’ve been giving him a hard time. So, again, it’s just a total team effort, and it’s fun. You know, that was complementary basketball (tonight). Defense to offense. Offense to defense. And we’re going to need more if we’re going to make a push for this thing.”

Baboucarr Njie. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Emblematic of solid bench play for UTSA, freshman Baboucarr Njie dunks in the second half of UTSA’s 84-56 blowout victory over Rice. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Spears and Millender scored 25 points each, and the Roadrunners exploded past the Owls 53-33 in the second half. With the win, UTSA gained a confidence boost leading into a Tuesday night home game against the 18th-ranked Memphis Tigers.

For the second time this season, Spears and Millender confounded the Owls. Spears had 26 points and Millender 25 on Jan. 14 in a 90-84 win at Houston.

The two heated up again in the re-match against their in-state rivals. Millender hit nine of 10 shots from the field, including three of four from three-point territory. He also passed for seven assists.

Spears was nine of 16 afield and six of nine from deep. The senior from Hartford, Conn., one of the day’s honorees on Senior Day, scored 19 of his points in a sizzling second half.

So, with 174 points scored against the Owls in two games, the opening question in the post-game news conference centered on why the Roadrunners’ offense seems to flow so well against their AAC friends from Houston.

“Our offense has been like that all season,” Millender said. “In practice, we go hard every day. We know where our spots are going to be at all times, especially me and Pri — the dynamic duo. The past two times we’ve seen Rice, we both combined for 50 plus. So, we just went out there and played hard.”

Spears, whose parents made the trip to San Antonio for Senior Day, said it felt good to snap the losing streak.

Jonnivius Smith. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jonnivius Smith produced 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks off the bench. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“(It means) everything, especially going into Tuesday, giving us a little confidence,” he said. “I thought we’ve just been playing really well. Even with the win column not looking as good as it is, I think we’ve played really well for 35 minutes of game time.

“So in this week off, we stressed being composed in the last five minutes of the game. I thought me and No. 4 (Millender) did a great job.”

Caden Powell scored 12 points to lead the Owls.

Records

Rice 13-17, 4-13
UTSA 11-17, 5-11

Coming up

Memphis at UTSA, Tuesday, 6 p.m.
UTSA at Charlotte, Sunday, March 9, 3 p.m.

First half

Millender scored on a drive and then hit a three to spark a 9-2 run late in the first half as the UTSA Roadrunners broke open a close game and moved into a 31-23 lead at intermission.

Two UTSA seniors went down and limped off late in the half. First, Spears came off with less than five minutes left, appearing to favor his left leg or foot. He returned a few minutes later and scored on a driving layup.

In the last few seconds of the half, Monsanto leaped to make a play on the defensive end and came down hard, hitting the floor in front of the UTSA bench. He, too, was helped off as the team walked toward the dressing room at intermission.

UTSA’s defense kept Rice from getting much momentum started, as the Roadrunners held the Owls to 26.7 percent shooting from the floor. UTSA, in shooting 37.5 percent, made three from beyond the 3-point arc.

Monsanto hit two of the triples and Millender stroked the other. Meanwhile, the Owls hit only one of 11 shots from outside the arc, some of them uncontested that must missed.

Notable

In the pregame, UTSA honored Primo Spears, Damari Monsanto and Raekwon Horton on Senior Day. Monsanto had six points and three rebounds, but was, as Claunch mentioned, a robust plus 19 on the plus-minus chart. Horton had two points and seven rebounds in 19 minutes.

PJ Haggerty scored 25 points, including 17 in the final 12 minutes, as Memphis came back from an 11-point deficit to beat UAB 88-81 on Sunday in Birmingham.

With the win, the Tigers (24-5, 14-2) moved closer to an AAC regular-season title. Memphis leads North Texas (21-6, 12-3) by one game in the loss column. UAB (19-10, 12-4) fell two games back.

Tuesday’s game will mark the return of former UTSA guard P.J. Carter, a key reserve for the Tigers. Carter played for the Roadrunners last season. He is averaging 5.4 points in 14.1 minutes for Coach Penny Hardaway in Memphis.

Primo Spears. UTSA beat Rice 84-56 in American Athletic Conference men's basketball on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Connecticut native Primo Spears hit six three-point baskets and scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half for UTSA. He said he was inspired by the presence of his parents, who attended on Senior Day. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA women stoke conference title hopes with a 57-55 road victory at Rice

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Limited to only one point in the last five minutes and 48 seconds, the first-place UTSA Roadrunners women held on until the end of a dramatic finish, stoking their American Athletic Conference championship hopes with a 57-55 road victory Saturday over the Rice Owls.

Karen Aston. UTSA beat North Texas 54-52 in American Athletic Conference women's basketball on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Karen Aston traced her team’s struggle to score at the end against Rice to emotions associated with being in the thick of a race for a conference title. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Rice’s Dominique Ennis misfired on an open-look, three-point attempt at the buzzer, which sent UTSA players into celebration on the court with their sixth straight win and their 23rd overall, which ties for second most in a season in the program’s 44-year history.

By hanging on, UTSA (23-3, 14-1) also maintained a one-game lead on the South Florida Bulls (20-8, 13-2) in the AAC’s regular-season title race. South Florida played at home in Tampa and won its ninth straight by beating Memphis, 80-70. Sammie Puisis led the Bulls with 34 points.

The Roadrunners have three games remaining, including a road game Tuesday in New Orleans against the Tulane Green Wave, before the start of the AAC tournament. After beating Rice, the Roadrunners moved into a tie with the 2007-08 UTSA team with 23 wins.

If they can beat the Green Wave, they would tie the 2008-09 team for the school record of 24. Both of those squads, coached by the late Rae Rippetoe-Blair and led by point guard Monica Gibbs, won Southland Conference postseason titles and played in the NCAA tournament.

After the Rice game, UTSA coach Karen Aston put on the headset at press row and talked to radio voice Neal Raphael. She sounded relieved. “It’s hard to win on the road, that’s the first thing I’ll say,” Aston said.

With Jordyn Jenkins hitting five of her first six shots, the Roadrunners started fast, storming to a 22-6 lead near the end of the first quarter.

But as the game went on, Rice defended Jenkins better, and both Jenkins and Idara Udo played their way into foul trouble. To make matters more troubling, Ennis started to play well, hitting shots from all angles and distances.

In the last six minutes, the Owls kept grinding away and nearly knocked off off the conference leaders. With 5:48 remaining, Roadrunners guard Nina De Leon Negron hit a three-point basket. The shot went down and gave UTSA a 56-49 lead.

From there, by unofficial count, UTSA missed five field goal attempts and committed two turnovers. The Owls, meanwhile, called on Victoria Flores for a layup. Ennis followed with a three with 2:45 remaining, pulling Rice to within 56-53.

Going into the last half minute, the Owls looked to be the aggressor. With Ennis floating on the perimeter, a danger to score from anywhere, the ball went inside to forward Sussy Ngulefac, who hit from close range. UTSA’s lead was down to one.

On the ensuing inbounds with 15 seconds left, De Leon Negron caught the pass but was tied up, with the possession going to Rice. Ennis, however, misfired from about 13 feet with Maya Linton and Udo coming out to contest.

The defensive stop gave UTSA a last chance with the ball, and the Roadrunners eked one point out of it on a De Leon Negron free throw. She hit it with a second left for the 57-55 lead.

After Rice rebounded De Leon Negron’s next free throw, a miss, the home team had a chance, with the Owls getting to advance the ball to its own end of the court. On an inbounds play, Ennis popped open and had a look at the basket, but she missed off the rim.

“It was Senior Day for these guys (the Owls) and they were jockeying for position as are we, and I thought that Rice played their hearts out. I thought we did, too,” Aston said in an interview on The Bull, on the postgame radio show. “We just … you know, maybe we played not to lose there toward the end of the game.”

Aston had more to say:

“We made a lot of mistakes — defensively, offensively — just uncharacteristic (of our team). Just not being able to listen (was a factor). It was loud in here. We just couldn’t process some of the things we were talking about in timeouts.

“(It was) emotional.

“That’s just where this team is right now,” the coach said. “They want to win so bad that they’re having trouble just relaxing. You know, that’s what happens when you’ve never won anything before, and you’re trying really hard to do it. You’re just trying to find ways to get through it, and we did that.”

UTSA is 16-1 in its last 17 games, with the only loss coming on Jan. 29 at South Florida, 75-63. Jenkins sat out against South Florida with an injury, the only game she hasn’t played this season.

Records

UTSA 23-3, 14-1
Rice 13-14, 6-9

Coming up

UTSA at Tulane (16-10, 9-6), Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
FAU at UTSA, Saturday, March 1, noon
UTSA at East Carolina, Tuesday, March 4, 5 p.m.

AAC leaders

UTSA 14-1, 23-3
South Florida 13-2, 20-8
North Texas 12-3, 20-7

Notable

UTSA — The Roadrunners are trying to win their first regular-season title since Rae Rippetoe-Blair’s 2008-09 team tied UT Arlington for the Southland Conference crown at 14-2. UTSA went on to win the SLC postseason championship and lost to No. 2-seed Baylor in the NCAA first round, finishing 24-9.

Coach Karen Aston, in her 17th year as an NCAA Division I head coach, has won 346 games. She has a winning percentage of almost 63 percent and has led her teams to seven NCAA tournaments, including four trips to the Sweet 16 and one to the Elite Eight. But she is still looking for her first regular-season title.

Forward Jordyn Jenkins led UTSA with 19 points on six of 13 shooting. Idara Udo, who has had three double doubles recently, finished with eight points and four rebounds in 28 minutes. Both Jenkins and Udo were limited with four fouls. Forward Cheyenne Rowe came off the bench for 10 points on four of seven. Nina De Leon Negron had four points, five rebounds and seven assists. She also contributed four steals.

Rice — Dominique Ennis had 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. She went nine of 23 from the field and made three three-point shots. Forward Sussy Ngulefac, who scored 16 against the Roadrunners in San Antonio in January, didn’t touch the ball much in the first half and was held to 11. Malia Fisher, Rice’s other major scoring threat, scored only four. Hailey Adams, a Rice sophomore from San Antonio’s Clark High School, had seven points and 12 rebounds.

First half

UTSA surged behind the hot shooting of forward Jordyn Jenkins into a 16-point lead in the first quarter, only to see the Rice Owls rally with a focused defensive effort. In the end, the Roadrunners took a 36-27 lead into intermission.

Both teams entered the game in Houston at Tudor Fieldhouse with different motivations. The Roadrunners were looking to protect a one-game lead in the American Athletic Conference, while the Owls wanted to win on Senior Day.

The Owls entered the game with a 10-3 record at home this season.

Tulane update

The Green Wave (16-10 on the season and to 9-6 in the AAC) celebrated Senior Night on Saturday with a 68-64 home victory over Wichita State.

Sherese Pittman recorded her sixth double-double with 17 points and 16 rebounds and Victoria Keenan added 16 on four 3-pointers. Kyren Whittington contributed 12 points.

Amira Mabry, a Tulane junior from San Antonio area Converse Judson High School, was the team’s top rebounder with 11. Freshman Kendall Sneed posted six assists and four steals.

First-place UTSA women hit ‘the final stretch’ in American Athletic Conference title race

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

In long-distance races in track and field, an official rings a bell with one lap to go as runners churn for the finish.

The leader of the pack has an advantage, but everyone with a competitive heart believes they can still win.

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat East Carolina 60-46 at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in American Athletic Conference women's basketball. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordyn Jenkins leads the AAC in scoring at 18.5 points per game. She also ranks fourth in field goal percentage at 47.2. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Well, the bell is ringing, so to speak, for the UTSA women’s basketball team and everyone chasing them in the race for the American Athletic Conference regular-season title.

The first-place Roadrunners (22-3 overall, 13-1 AAC) lead in the standings by one game over the South Florida Bulls and by two over the North Texas Mean Green with four to play.

Of UTSA’s last remaining games, three are on the road, including one this afternoon in Houston against the Rice Owls.

Even though a regular-season title doesn’t guarantee a coveted NCAA berth, UTSA forward Idara Udo says it’s “really important” for the Roadrunners to win it.

“That was one of our goals for the season,” she said. “So I think that with four games left, it’s kind of like the final stretch, like, the last lap in the race.”

Both South Florida (19-8, 12-2) and North Texas (19-7, 11-3) have two at home and two on the road remaining.

South Florida has won eight in a row leading into today’s home game against Memphis, while North Texas has won three straight going into a road test today at East Carolina.

UTSA coach Karen Aston was asked during her weekly session with the media on Monday how she liked her team’s chances to finish first.

Hailey Adams. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Hailey Adams, a Rice sophomore from San Antonio Clark High School wearing No. 22, averages 7.0 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Owls. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“Well, we control our own destiny at this point, as far as the fact that we are one game up right now,” Aston said. “But there’s just a lot of basketball to play. Take the road games that are never easy. So we just have to take the standard approach that we’ve made since Day 1, which is one game at a time.

“Rice is the next opponent and there’s really not much to worry about other than Rice right now.”

The Roadrunners had a tough time with the Owls before beating them 67-58 in San Antonio on Jan. 8. Rice led by nine in the second quarter and by six with 7:54 remaining, only to see UTSA explode past them in the final minutes.

Records

UTSA 22-3, 13-1
Rice 13-13, 6-8

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Saturday, 4 p.m.
UTSA at Tulane, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
FAU at UTSA, Saturday, March 1, noon
UTSA at East Carolina, Tuesday, March 4, 5 p.m.

UTSA men defeat Rice 90-84 for first AAC road win

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners built a 17-point lead in the first half and then withstood a Rice Owls rally after intermission to post a 90-84 road victory Tuesday night in American Athletic Conference men’s basketball.

Austin Claunch. UTSA men's basketball lost to Tulsa 82-77 in American Athletic Conference action on Monday, Jan. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Claunch’s UTSA Roadrunners improved to 8-8 on the season and 2-2 in conference with a road victory at Rice. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“Huge win for us tonight,” UTSA coach Austin Claunch said on the team’s radio broadcast.

Guard Primo Spears led the Roadrunners with 26 points and five assists. Guard Marcus Millender came off the bench to score 25 for his second straight game with 20 or more. Forward Raekwon Horton also continued his strong play with 20 points and eight rebounds.

The victory felt like an inflection point, of sorts, for the Roadrunners. A team that has struggled away from home this season has now improved to 2-6 on the road.

It also marked the Roadrunners’ second straight win in the AAC after starting conference with two losses, including a 29-point setback at Tulane and a five-point decision at home to Tulsa after leading by 16 in the second half.

In addition, the Roadrunners’ offense has come to life with 178 points in the team’s last two games, including an 88-75 home victory last Saturday against Wichita State. Against the Shockers, the Roadrunners hit 50 percent from the field and from the 3-point arc.

It’s always tougher to shoot the ball on the road, but the Roadrunners did it pretty well against the Owls, who have showed off a rugged defensive style this year. UTSA shot 46.2 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from three against the Owls.

Not only did the Roadrunners hit 13 three-point shots, but they also made nearly all of their free throws, knocking down 17 of 18, including eight for eight in the last 25 seconds after the Owls had cut the lead to five.

An emotional Claunch, sitting down with Andy Everett on the team’s postgame radio show, praised the team’s composure at the end.

“On the road you got to expect they’re going to make a run,” Claunch said. “(They’re) a really, really well-coached team. They’re obviously much improved. Coach (Rob Lanier) is going to get it going. You can tell. They play with extreme fight, toughness. They attack the rim. And I was just proud of our team.”

In the first half, the Roadrunners blitzed the Owls with defense that forced turnovers, which led to a fast-paced tempo. Trailing by eight early, the Roadrunners surged into a 51-34 lead with a little less than two minutes remaining.

Undeterred, the Owls kept battling. They scored the last seven points in the first half to pull within 10. In the second half, they started playing more to their own tempo and gradually pulled into a 62-61 lead with 10 minutes left on two free throws by forward Jacob Dar.

On the next possession, UTSA ran good offense and dumped it down to forward Jo Smith for a dunk to re-take the lead. Millender then scored seven points in a row for the Roadrunners in a 9-2 run that opened the advantage to 70-64 with 7:47 left.

With Spears and Millender making plays, the Owls never came closer than three points the rest of the way. For Millender, who played in high school at Clear Brook in Houston-area Friendswood, it was special. He was able to put on a show for dozens of people who came out to watch him play.

“It was super fun tonight,” Millender said.

Millender, a UTSA sophomore, scored 21 points against Wichita State to tie a season high and then set a new one against Rice. His play after the Owls took the lead in the second half was clutch.

Millender just looked comfortable, sinking a 14-foot jumper to start his run. Next, he added a three from the top of the circle. On that basket, an Owls defender ran past him trying to defend. Millender let the defender go by, took one bounce with the ball and drilled the trey.

On UTSA’s next trip down, he worked to the left side of the key and sank a 15-foot fade-away over an outstretched hand to make it 70-64.

“We hit a little adversity,” Millender said, “and coach tells us all the time, ‘Just stay together. Stay together.’ Coach told us in the huddle ‘just stay together, and we going to come out with the dub.”

Guard Trae Broadnax led the Owls with 19 points, six rebounds and six assists. Forward Alem Huseinovic added 12, while both Dar and Caden Powell scored 11 each. Dar was a factor in many ways, as he contributed six rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. Denver Anglin added nine points off the bench, all from beyond the arc on three-for-eight shooting from distance.

Records

UTSA 8-8, 2-2
Rice 11-7, 2-3

Coming up

North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.

First half

Trailing by eight points early, the UTSA Roadrunners settled down, started forcing turnovers and rolled to a 51-41 lead on the Rice Owls.

In the game played in Houston at Rice’s Tudor Fieldhouse, the Roadrunners looked a bit tentative in the early going, falling behind 15-7 in the first five minutes.

After a timeout, the Roadrunners started to bother the Owls with their defense and several UTSA players got hot on the offensive end in a fast-paced attack.

By intermission, UTSA was shooting 50 percent from the field and 53 percent from the 3-point arc. Primo Spears led the way with 14 points, while Raekwon Horton and Marcus Millender had 13 apiece.

For the second straight game, Millender came off the bench, and the strategy worked with the UTSA perimeter players in synch and playing with confidence.

Spears was 5 for 11 from the field and 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Millender, Horton and Damari Monsanto all knocked down three 3-point shots.

The Roadrunners pumped the lead to 17 points twice down the stretch, the last time at 51-34 on a couple of Spears free throws.

The Owls climbed back in contention with seven straight points down the stretch — all by Alem Huseinovic. Huseinovic led the Owls in the first half with 10 points. He hit two of five from the 3-point arc.

Men’s basketball: Revamped UTSA, Rice to meet in Houston tonight

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Two Texas-based men’s college basketball programs, both looking to gain traction in the American Athletic Conference under new coaches, will meet Tuesday night in Houston when the UTSA Roadrunners play the Rice Owls at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Marcus Millender. UTSA men's basketball lost to Tulsa 82-77 in American Athletic Conference action on Monday, Jan. 7, 2024, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA guard Marcus Millender, who played in high school at Clear Brook in Friendswood, will return to the Houston area tonight as the Roadrunners tip off against the Rice Owls. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Both UTSA and Rice, entering their second year in the AAC, are coming off disappointing seasons in which they won only five conference games Both UTSA and Rice went 5-13 in the American a year ago and responded by overhauling their coaching staffs.

The Roadrunners said goodbye to Steve Henson and hello to Austin Claunch. The Owls, meanwhile, parted ways with Scott Pera and then hired Rob Lanier.

Both Claunch and Lanier have been tasked with the same charge — to bolster sagging hoops fortunes at universities separated by about 200 miles of highway on Interstate 10.

As far as NCAA tournament appearances go, Rice hasn’t been to one since 1970, one of the longest droughts in Division I, while UTSA’s last trip was 2011.

Records

UTSA 7-8, 1-2
Rice 11-6, 2-2

Coming up

UTSA at Rice, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
North Texas at UTSA, Saturday, 3 p.m.

Notable

Lanier’s Owls started 11-4 and 2-0 in the conference, opening the first week of January with a 70-64 AAC road win at Tulsa and then returning home to beat the Charlotte 49ers, 68-55.

Last week, they stumbled, getting blown out 81-59 at North Texas last Wednesday and then coming home to play close against Temple, only to fall 73-70 in the final seconds.

Claunch, whose team played at a high level for the most part last week but came out of it 1-1, said it won’t be easy to win in Houston.

“Every week (in the AAC) is tough,” he said on a Monday zoom call. “Ultimately, now, we’ve got to go on the road against a good Rice team that’s 2-2 in league. They lost a tough one (to Temple) the other day. So we got to be ready to go and execute and play how we’ve been playing.

“And then we come home and play not just a good team but a great program with North Texas that’s had a ton of success over the past few years. Big week for us. We just got to put our heads down and keep working.”

The Roadrunners opened conference play on Jan. 4 at Tulane and suffered their most lopsided loss of the season, a 92-63. Returning home, they hosted Tulsa and had the Golden Hurricane down by 16 points early in the second half, only to squander the lead and fall 82-77.

Playing at home again last weekend, the Roadrunners put together defense and offense as well as they have all season and downed the Wichita State Shockers, 88-75. An extremely promising sign was that they tallied their most points against a Division I team with leading scorer Primo Spears held to only eight.

Big man update
The Roadrunners are playing short-handed in the frontcourt. Six-foot-eight power forward Jaquan Scott hasn’t played in six of UTSA’s last seven games. He’s been away for the last two attending to a family matter. In addition, 6-11 center Mo Njie has missed four straight with a foot injury.

UTSA improves to 13-2 after rallying to beat Rice, 67-58

Nina De Leon Negron. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Nina De Leon Negron, wearing the gold ‘Cash In’ chain, shouts her approval after the Roadrunners ascended from a six-point deficit in the final eight minutes to beat the Rice Owls by nine. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The victories just keep on coming for the UTSA women, even without one of their best players on the floor.

On a night when Sidney Love sat out with an illness, Jordyn Jenkins produced 21 points and 14 rebounds, leading the UTSA Roadrunners to their sixth straight victory, a 67-58 decision over the Rice Owls Wednesday at the Convocation Center.

In winning their ninth in a row at home dating back to last season, UTSA improved to a school-record 13-2 and to 4-0 in the American Athletic Conference.

Led by a couple of strong and mobile post players, the Owls led by as many as nine points in the second quarter and by five at intermission.

Jordyn Jenkins and Hailey Adams. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Jordyn Jenkins scored seven of her team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter as UTSA rallied to defeat the defending American Athletic Conference tournament champions. – Photo by Joe Alexander

They were up by six after three periods and by six with 7:54 remaining, but they couldn’t hold on as the Roadrunners exploded past them, 24-9, in the fourth.

“The best thing I can say about this game is that we showed some resilience,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “It wasn’t by any means our best performance. I think we’ll take some things from this game. We had a lot of young guys in the game. (Now) we actually have film to show them and have some teaching moments.”

Fourth quarter magic

For the second straight time in a game at home for the Roadrunners, they fell behind in the fourth quarter and rallied to win.

They did it on New Year’s night in a 67-56 victory over the UAB Blazers. Against UAB, UTSA trailed by one twice early in the fourth and then rumbled to the win behind Jenkins, who scored nine points in the period on four of five shooting.

Things looked a little more dire for the Roadrunners against the Owls when Sussy Ngulefac muscled inside for a basket and a 53-47 Rice lead with 7:54 remaining. From there, UTSA outscored Rice 20-5 the rest of the way.

Highlights of a 20-5 run

# A sequence in which Jenkins hit a jumper on one end, forced a turnover on the other, and then hit a three at 6:40 that gave UTSA its first lead (by one) in the period.
# An offensive rebound in traffic by the 5-foot-6 De Leon Negron, who drew a foul and sank two free throws at 5:41 for another one-point UTSA lead.
# A struggle under the UTSA basket that ended with both Jenkins and Rice’s Hailey Adams hitting the floor — and fouls called on both players.

Damara Allen. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Damara Allen scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter, on three for three shooting to help rally the Roadrunners. – Photo by Joe Alexander


# Moments later, consecutive buckets by De Leon Negron, the second of which came on a drive through traffic to put UTSA up by four at 2:06.
# And, finally, a blocked shot by Idara Udo that led to a three-point basket by freshman Damara Allen for the final points of the game at 0:28.3.

A crowd of fewer than 1,000 fans roared for Allen and the Roadrunners, who continue to inspire championship hopes with the best start after 15 games in the program’s 44-year history.

As usual, Jenkins was at the center of it all. She keyed the late rally by scoring seven of her 21 points in the final eight minutes. In that time, she hit three of four from the field, grabbed four rebounds and had a steal.

Afterward, she praised Allen, who also had seven points in the rally. Jenkins said she isn’t surprised that the freshman is playing well, noting that she started making noise in practices as far back as last summer.

Jenkins smiled when asked about her fall to the floor and the double foul call down the stretch. She said of the Owls, “They’re trying to take me out of the game. But I love the physicality. Bring it on.”

Records

Rice 8-7, 1-2
UTSA 13-2, 4-0

Coming up

Wichita State at UTSA, Saturday, noon

Individuals

Rice – Forward Sussy Ngulefac hit seven of 11 shots and scored 16 points to lead the Owls. Forward Malia Fisher, one of the Rice veterans who played a major role in last year’s run to the NCAA tournament, had 14 points and six boards. Guard Dominique Ennis, another returning starter from Rice’s AAC tournament title team, scored 11.

Hailey Adams. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Rice sophomore Hailey Adams, from San Antonio’s Clark High School, had seven rebounds, five points and three assists in front of an enthusiastic cheering section at the Convocation Center. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA – Jenkins, who scored 30 in a victory at Tulsa on Saturday, shot seven of 18 from the field and came up big in the fourth quarter with seven points and four rebounds. De Leon Negron had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Freshman Damara Allen, who started at shooting guard in place of Love, scored all seven of her points in the final quarter, hitting three for three from the field.

Notable

Playing without Love, the Roadrunners started slowly. The Owls held the Roadrunners to 13 points in the first quarter en route to a 36-31 lead at halftime.

Ngulefac led the Owls with 10 points in the half, while De Leon Negron had 11 to pace the Roadrunners.

A spokesman said Love didn’t play because she was ‘feeling under the weather.’ Coach Karen Aston said she didn’t know if Love would play Saturday against Wichita State. The junior from Steele sat on the bench in a sweat suit.

Another key player, reserve forward Nyayongah Gony, also did not play. Gony wasn’t on the bench during the game or on the floor for warmups. The team’s spokesman said he didn’t know why she didn’t play.

As for Saturday’s opponent, the Wichita State Shockers fell to 7-10 on the season and 1-3 in conference after getting blow out at home, 72-46, by the surging South Florida Bulls.

South Florida is 11-6 and tied for first in the AAC with UTSA at 4-0.

Idara Udo. UTSA women's basketball beat Rice 67-58 in American Athletic Conference action at the Convocation Center on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Foul-plagued UTSA sophomore Idara Udo had five blocked shots in 19 minutes against the Rice Owls. – Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA might be missing a couple of players tonight against Rice

Editor’s note: UTSA might be without two players against the Rice Owls tonight. Starting guard Sidney Love came out of the dressing room in a sweat suit. Reserve forward Nyayongah Gony is also not on the floor.

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After playing their first 14 games at a high level and receiving attention from media outlets around the city, does the UTSA women’s basketball team need to guard against a mental letdown? Roadrunners coach Karen Aston isn’t worried about it.

Damara Allen. UTSA women's basketball at the Convocation Center on Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. - photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Damara Allen is one of the team’s young players vying for an expanded role. Allen scored 11 points off the bench in UTSA’s last home game. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“I don’t feel like we’ll have a letdown just, from a sense of, I mean, our team is pretty locked in right now,” Aston said on a zoom call with reporters Monday.

Locked in, is right. The Roadrunners (12-2, 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference) are having the best start to a season in school history. Riding a five-game winning streak, they’ll host the defending AAC tournament champion Rice Owls (8-6, 1-1) tonight at the Convocation Center.

Aston said maturity is a hallmark of this year’s team.

“It’s an evolution for players,” she said. “You know, what I’ve really enjoyed about this group is having four players that have been here with me almost the whole time, just about. Now they’re juniors and they really understand the process of everything, and I think it develops maturity when you have players who stick around. They understand what you want of them.

“They don’t take things (personally) because they probably at this point have a really good relationship with you. They stuck around and they understand what they’re trying to get accomplished. It’s not necessarily that we have a different mindset (from last year). I think we wanted to win last year really bad. And I think we overachieved. But this team is just a little bit more mature.”

Records

Rice 8-6, 1-1
UTSA 12-2, 3-0

Coming up

Rice at UTSA, tonight, 6:30
Wichita State at UTSA, Saturday, noon

Notable

The Owls made a name for themselves under coach Lindsay Edmonds last March. After losing five in a row to end the regular season, including a loss to UTSA in San Antonio on the last day, they responded by winning four games in four days in Fort Worth to claim the AAC postseason title, securing the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

As a No. 14 seed in the NCAA first round, they lost 70-60 to third-seeded LSU.

This season, the Owls have turned the page with the graduation of veteran point guard Destiny Jackson. But they have most of their personnel back, including standouts Malia Fisher, a 6-2 forward, and guards Dominique Ennis and Hailey Adams.

Fisher sat out the first eight games with a wrist injury, but she has returned to lead the team, averaging 12.5 points and 6.2 rebounds. In Rice’s last game, a 72-64 victory at Tulane last weekend, Fisher had 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Ennis averages 11.6 points and Adams, a sophomore from San Antonio Clark High School, contributes 8.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists. Adams is also a shot blocker, averaging 1.1 per game.

“I think they look really similar (to last year),” Aston said. “They look like a team that understands what it takes to win. They’re always super competitive, well coached. They look very similar. They do what they do and they do it well.”

NET rankings

Here are the top-rated teams in AAC women’s basketball, according to the NCAA’s NET rankings: UTSA (59), South Florida (64), Tulane (94), Temple (102), Rice (128).

FAU wins 12-5 as UTSA’s season ends at the American Baseball Championship

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The FAU Owls entered Wednesday’s elimination game at the American Baseball Championship without much fanfare.

After all, they lost 16 of 22 games at the end of the regular season and then got hammered 14-2 Tuesday night against the Tulane Green Wave in the opener of the double-elimination tournament.

Faced with the task of bouncing back against the second-seeded UTSA Roadrunners, few gave the Owls much of a chance. FAU players had other ideas.

The tournament’s No. 6 Owls exploded for 18 hits en route to an easy 12-5 victory to end UTSA’s season.

“I’m very proud of the guys,” FAU coach John McCormack said on a zoom call from the tournament site in Clearwater, Fla. “You have your back against the wall against a really good team. They finished second in the league.”

McCormack credited pitcher Trey Beard, a freshman, for showing composure after UTSA took an early 3-1 lead.

“After the third,” McCormack said, “Trey settled down and gave the offense a chance to get moving. We put up that six spot. Took a little pressure off us, and we were able to score some more.

“Good day,” the 16th-year FAU head coach added. “I was happy with the guys. Very proud of ’em.”

For UTSA, it was a tough day. Perhaps the toughest of the season. They took the field without injured Mason Lytle, the Newcomer of the Year in the AAC and the team’s leading hitter. Lytle played in a 9-5, 12-inning loss to Charlotte Tuesday night but couldn’t go against FAU because of a hamstring injury.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark, whose season ended with a 32-24 record, wasn’t making any excuses.

“We didn’t play very well,” he said. “Yeah, it’s disappointing. (Those are) my thoughts. Florida Atlantic deserved to win. We played better most of the season. It’s a disappointing end. But I’m proud of the team. We had a good year, and I’m going to miss these seniors.”

One day, Hallmark might look back on his fifth year at UTSA with a different perspective. It could be that the Roadrunners overachieved during a 17-10 run through conference, during which it beat East Carolina in a weekend series in San Antonio.

But after making a run for the AAC’s regular-season title though the last weekend and then losing twice in two days at the tournament, he admitted that “it’s a little sour” to leave Florida this way.

“I guess losing is less sour than not playing very well,” he said. “That’s the part that’s sour. But I love these kids. I’m going to miss ’em. Guys like (pitchers) Daniel Garza and Uli Quiroga. Gosh dang it, I wish I had ’em back.”

Paced by Christian Adams, who went 4 for 4 at the plate, the Owls proved to be unstoppable on offense.

Spencer Rich also had three hits, and Brando Leroux, John Schoeder and Jake Millan notched two apiece. Leroux hit a home run, and he joined Rich, Adams and Schroeder with two RBI apiece.

For UTSA, Caleb Hill homered and drove in two runs to highlight a 2 for 5 performance. Hill finished the tournament with five hits.

On the pitching side, Quiroga (8-2) took the loss. He worked the first three innings and yielded six runs, five of them earned, on eight hits.

Records

FAU 27-28
UTSA 32-24

Notable

UTSA reliever Conor Myles was ejected in the eighth inning after he hit FAU batter Christian Adams with a pitch.

Myles threw three pitches, including one that sailed high and behind Adams and all the way to the screen in front of the grandstand. A pitch followed that was high and inside, and then another one that hit Adams in the low back.

Asked about the pitch that hit Adams and the ensuing ejection of Myles, FAU coach John McCormack downplayed it.

“He’s coming in, in a tough situation, and I don’t know how much time he had to warm up,” McCormack said. “A ball got away from him. It happens. I didn’t think anything of it.”

The sequence of events in the eighth followed a seventh-inning incident involving Adams, a base runner, and UTSA second baseman Diego Diaz.

Adams led off with a single. FAU’s Jake Millan followed by hitting a ball into left field. As Adams ran, he approached second base and ran into Diaz, who had his back to the base runner.

The force of the collision resulted in both players falling to the ground. The infield umpire called Diaz for obstruction, McCormack said later.

McCormack said Adams intended to attempt a first-to-third base advance following the hit. He said Adams was looking at the ball in the outfield “and they just collided. I didn’t see it until they were both on the ground (and) then the umpire ruled obstruction, and Christian was able to go to third.

“I didn’t see it,” the coach added. “Looks like it was just a collision, and those things happen.”

With Diaz shaken up on the play, UTSA took him out of the game momentarily to have him checked out by the trainer. He returned during the same inning and played the rest of the game.

Asked about what happened in the incident involving Myles, Hallmark said he didn’t know. Added Hallmark, “He hit him. Probably going fastball in and just missed (on location) a little bit.”

Hallmark said he didn’t see the collision involving Adams and Diaz in the seventh.

“I was looking at the ball and the relay (throw), and when I looked back, Diego was on the ground.,” the UTSA coach said. “Obviously I put two and two together that the kid ran him over. But I was watching the play in the outfield, to see if we picked it up clean and made an accurate throw to the first guy.”

Hallmark said Diaz wanted to stay in the game. But it was determined that he should come out to be examined further by a trainer. “The trainer told me he thought he was fine,” Hallmark said. “So he and I chatted and he seemed totally fine.”

Diaz, a freshman from Pharr and Sharyland High School, finished the game with two hits and a run scored, and he was also charged with two errors.

Early game

Parker Smith pitched into the seventh inning, and Jack Riedel hit two opposite-field home runs as the Rice Owls beat UAB, 9-0, eliminating the Blazers.

With the win, the eighth-seeded Owls bounced back from a tournament-opening 12-4 loss to the East Carolina Pirates. They’ll play again on Friday against either the Wichita State Shockers or the top-seeded Pirates.

Smith gave up six hits in 6 and 2/3 innings, striking out eight and walking two.

Records

UAB 26-29
Rice 23-35

Coming up

On Thursday afternoon, in the winners’ bracket, the Shockers and the Pirates will play the first game, followed by the Charlotte 49ers and the Tulane Green Wave.

American tournament drama: Charlotte surges past UTSA, 9-5, in 12 innings

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

If the UTSA Roadrunners hope to reach the title game in the American Baseball Championship, they’re going to have to go through the losers’ bracket to get there.

Carson Bayne crushed a three-run homer to cap a four-run 12th inning Tuesday night, lifting the Charlotte 49ers past the Roadrunners 9-5 on opening day.

The game was a study in heartbreak for the Roadrunners. Also frustration, as they left 18 runners on base. They fell behind by four runs when the 49ers scored four in the top of the sixth, and then they rallied in the bottom of the eighth with four of their own to tie it.

Second-seeded UTSA seemed to have the game won a few times in extra innings and couldn’t finish off seventh-seeded Charlotte. In both the 10th and the 11th, they loaded the bases with one out and couldn’t score.

In the top of the 12th, the 49ers finally broke through against Daniel Garza.

Thad Ector opened the inning with a single to right field. Noah Furcht followed with a grounder to shortstop for what appeared to be a certain force play at second. But the throw was wild and both runners were safe.

At that point, one of the veterans of Charlotte’s 2023 Conference USA tournament title team came through in the clutch. Brandon Stahlman hit an RBI single to left. Ector scored from second base, racing across home plate to make it 6-5.

Bayne then did his part to put the game out of reach. He re-directed a 1-0 pitch from Garza, sending it over the wall in left for a three-run homer to account for the final runs of the game. It was the fifth hit of the night for Bayne, a 5-11 junior from Jacksonville, Fla.

In the bottom of the 12th, the Roadrunners picked up a couple of hits but left them stranded when 49ers freshman Joseph Taylor struck out Olivo to end the game. For the game, UTSA hit only 4 for 26 with runners on base and only 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

As a result, UTSA will play sixth-seeded Florida Atlantic in the losers’ bracket Wednesday. Tulane defeated FAU 14-2 in seven innings on the run rule late Tuesday night.

Despite scoring only once in the first seven innings, the Roadrunners erased a four-run deficit with a spirited four-run rally in the eighth. Caleb Hill led off with a single, and Isaiah Walker and Alexander Olivo followed with RBI doubles to make it 5-3.

Charlotte changed pitchers twice before the end of the inning as UTSA surged. With Tony Rossi on the mound, Diego Diaz walked with the bases loaded to force in one run. Lorenzo Morresi followed with a sacrifice fly to tie it.

With two runners aboard, Rossi fanned UTSA’s Matt King to end the uprising.

Records

Charlotte 24-32
UTSA 32-23

Notable

Earlier in the afternoon, the game turned in a span of about 25 minutes from the bottom of the fifth and the top of the sixth innings. In the fifth, the Roadrunners had a baserunner at first with two of their best hitters at the plate.

First, Mason Lytle smashed a line drive to right field, but Charlotte’s Noah Furcht was in position to make an easy catch. Next, King drilled a ball high and far to center. He didn’t quite get all of it as Reid Haire angled toward the walk and gathered it in to end the inning.

In the sixth, with one out, the 49ers put together a one-out rally against Fischer Kingsbery and Ruger Riojas. The rally started innocently enough, with Brandon Stahlman and Carson Bayne hitting singles in front of the UTSA outfielders.

At that point, Dante DeFranco roped a double to right that scored Stahlman and sent Bayne to third. The Roadrunners thought they had thrown out DeFranco at second, but the umpire’s call was upheld.

UTSA, trailing 2-1, called on Riojas to try to squelch the threat. But Kaden Hopson, one of the returning 49ers’ starters from last year’s Conference USA tournament title team, worked the count to 3-1 before he unloaded with a ball that sailed over the fence in right-center.

The home run boosted the 49ers into a commanding 5-1 lead.

Early games

The top-seeded East Carolina Pirates rallied for 12 runs in the eighth inning and went on to record a 12-4 victory over the No. 8 Rice Owls on opening day of the American Baseball Championship.

Misplays on two Joey Berini fly balls into right field and an infield error on a potential inning-ending double play grounder doomed the Owls in the eighth. Jacob Starling capped the outburst with a two-run homer.

In the tournament opener, fourth-seeded Wichita State downed the mistake-prone No. 5 seed UAB Blazers, 8-2.

Tuesday’s results

Game 1: (4) Wichita State 8, (5) UAB 2
Game 2: (1) East Carolina 12, (8) Rice 4
Game 3: (7) Charlotte 9, (2) UTSA 5, 12 innings
Game 4: (3) Tulane 14, (6) Florida Atlantic 2, 7 innings

Wednesday’s schedule

Game 5: UAB vs. Rice, noon
Game 6: UTSA vs. Florida Atlantic. 47 minutes after Game 5

Thursday’s schedule

Game 7: Wichita State vs. East Carolina, noon
Game 8: Charlotte vs. Tulane, 47 minutes after Game 7