
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.”

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.

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.

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