Tag Archives: Sidney Love

UTSA women engineer a monster comeback to win again in Frisco

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Basketball is their game, and they all play on the same team, but it has become clear in the last month or so that the UTSA Roadrunners are more than that. Way more. They’re a group of women who keep getting more remarkable by the day.

Karen Aston. UTSA beat Rice 66-53 in Conference USA women's basketball on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Karen Aston’s UTSA Roadrunners have rebounded from a 4-15 record to win nine of their last 12 games, including six in a row. – File photo by Joe Alexander

They started the season with a string of frustrating losses, and now here they are, one win away from playing for the Conference USA postseason title.

“Gosh, it’s hard to put into words how proud I am of this group,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said Thursday, after her sixth-seeded Roadrunners rallied from a 15-point, first-half deficit to stun the three-seed Rice Owls, 62-54, in the C-USA tournament quarterfinals.

With the victory, UTSA claimed its sixth win in a row and made a little bit of school history by winning for the second time in two days in the tournament being contested at The Star in Frisco.

Not only did the Roadrunners earn a spot in Friday night’s semifinals against the two-seed WKU Lady Toppers, but they also became the first UTSA women’s basketball team to win multiple games at a conference postseason tournament in 14 years.

The last one to do it? The Monica Gibbs-led 2009 Roadrunners, who swept three games in Katy to claim the Southland Conference postseason title and a No 15 seed in the NCAA tournament.

This time, it was Sidney Love, Kyra White, Jordyn Jenkins and others who created the magic. They stayed focused against the Owls even when it appeared as if they were more likely to be on the bus ride home to San Antonio later in the evening, rather than having dinner together and preparing a game-plan for the semifinals.

“The coaches said it in the locker room later,” Aston said. “The players kind of checked themselves at halftime. We didn’t play very well in the first half. We played … sort of how we played early in the year, and somewhere in the second half they sort of found themselves again. And remembered who they really are.

“I just thought we dug really deep,” the coach added. “Started to get stops. Obviously, got more aggressive. I thought Kyra and Sidney’s aggression in the second half was really the difference in the game. It opened up some stuff for the other players. So, really it was just a mindset. We changed our mindset in the second half.”

White, a junior guard from Judson, sat next to her coach in the postgame interviews and put her own spin on what she thought it was that changed for her teammates.

“The want to not go home,” she replied. “We just all wanted to be as connected as we could in the last 20 minutes and fight for one another. It’s too early to go home for us. So we just kept that in mind and kept (focusing) on the bigger picture.”

White’s inference might make some in the C-USA administration a bit nervous.

Could a team with a 13-18 record win two more games in Frisco and claim the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAAs? Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad thing, considering the talents of Jenkins, Love, White and others.

Jenkins, a 6-foot junior transfer from Southern Cal, brushed off foul trouble to finish with 22 points and seven rebounds. In the fourth quarter, the C-USA Player of the Year took over with 12 points, including nine in the last two minutes.

Backcourt mates Love and White also were very good when it mattered. Love had 11 of her 13 points in the fourth, including one stretch when she scored eight in a row. White finished her day with nine points, eight rebounds and five steals.

The 22-win Owls played well early, running off to a 29-14 lead with 3:56 left in the half. They also led 31-19 at intermission and 42-34 at the end of three quarters. But as it turned out, their tournament came to a close, as did their five-game winning streak.

India Bellamy and Ashlee Austin led Rice with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Records

Rice 22-8
UTSA 13-18

C-USA women’s tournament
At The Star, in Frisco

Thursday’s quarterfinals

Middle Tennessee State 84, Charlotte 53
UTEP 64, Louisiana Tech 54
WKU 71, UAB 67
UTSA 62, Rice 54

Friday’s semifinals

No. 1 Middle Tennessee (26-4) vs. No. 4 UTEP (20-10), 4:30 p.m.
No. 2 WKU (18-12) vs. No. 6 UTSA (13-18), 7 p.m.

Saturday’s championship game

Friday’s winners, 4:30 p.m.

Notable

The Roadrunners have had their struggles this season, starting out 2-7 in the nonconference phase of the schedule. Entering C-USA play, things didn’t get much better. They played the first half of a 20-game conference slate and put down a 2-8 record. In the second half, the Roadrunners started to click, winning seven of their last 10. Now that they’ve beaten Florida Atlantic and Rice on back-to-back days at the tournament, it means that since the last weekend of January, they are 9-3.

UTSA women grind out a 69-68 victory over FAU in postseason tournament opener

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

What the UTSA Roadrunners may have lacked in artistic style, they made up for with gritty determination on Wednesday afternoon at The Star in Frisco.

Freshman Sidney Love hit two free throws with six seconds left, lifting the sixth-seeded Roadrunners to a 69-68 victory over the No. 11 Florida Atlantic University Owls at the Conference USA tournament.

Love produced 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as UTSA won its tournament opener and advanced to Thursday’s quarterfinals against the Rice Owls.

“This game was exactly like I thought it would be,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “Two teams that were pretty evenly matched…Really, really super even. Both teams I thought played their hearts out.”

UTSA was off its game early, turning the ball over with unforced errors to allow last-place FAU to stay close.

“There was a little bit of an ebb and flow to it,” Aston said. “As far as turnovers were concerned, maybe the difference in the game might have been us not turning it over in the second half near as much.”

With C-USA Player of the Year Jordyn Jenkins of UTSA in foul trouble, FAU led by one point going into the second quarter.

Just before halftime, Love hit three straight baskets for the Roadrunners, who went into halftime leading 28-24.

In the second half, Jenkins started to find a rhythm and UTSA threatened on a few occasions to run away with it.

Back-to-back threes by Jenkins and Siena Guttadauro lifted the Roadrunners into a 12-point lead midway through the third.

After fending off an FAU push, UTSA answered with its own surge, forging a 10-point advantage in with seven minutes remaining when Kyra White drilled a long three off the wing.

Down the stretch, the Owls would not fold, as guard Alexa Zaph stroked her fifth t of triple of the game.

Another big play for FAU came when Joiya Maddox tied the score on a three-point play.

Then, as the clocked ticked under one minute, the Owls followed with another brazen attack on the basket. Forward Janeta Rosentale drove the right side of the paint for a go-ahead bucket with 15 seconds left.

Trailing by one at that point, the Roadrunners called time, got themselves organized and put the ball in Love’s hands.

The former standout at San Antonio-area Steele High School promptly drove into the paint and was fouled. She made both free throws with 6.2 seconds left to boost the Roadrunners’ winning streak to five games.

Not bad for a player in her first collegiate postseason game.

Love said in a zoom interview that the game is easier for her now than it was back in November and December.

“It’s just ‘play basketball’ and don’t over-think anything,” she said. “Don’t worry about too much. With tournament play, it’s even more thrilling. I just want to do the best for my team.”

For FAU, Zaph was pretty thrilling herself. She scored 19 points and hit five of seven from beyond the arc.

Hubbard, also one of the conference’s top freshmen, scored 17 on five of 15 shooting. In the end, the Owls (12-18) couldn’t close it out against the Roadrunners (12-18) and lost their ninth game in a row.

Jenkins, who led C-USA in scoring with a 21.1-point average, finished with 18 points in only 22 minutes.

As usual, the junior transfer from USC was efficient, as she knocked down seven of 11 shots from the field.

At the end, Jenkins set the table for Love with two big plays, scoring from the low post with two minutes left and then sinking two free throws with 34 seconds remaining.

“We really honestly just played good enough to win,” Aston said. “I told them before the game, when you get into tournament play it doesn’t have to be pretty.

“You know, you’re trying to win. Whatever you have to do, to do that. I thought they took that to heart, and, I’m just super proud.

“We won a game here last year, and you want to build on that and have a chance to win more than one. We’ve given ourselves a chance to do that now.”

C-USA women’s tournament
At The Star, in Frisco

Wednesday’s results

Charlotte 72, FIU 59
UAB 75, North Texas 71
UTSA 69, Florida Atlantic 68

Thursday’s quarterfinals

No. 1 Middle Tennessee State (25-4) vs. No. 9 Charlotte (12-18), 11 a.m.
No. 4 UTEP (19-10) vs. No. 5 Louisiana Tech (19-11), 11:30 a.m.
No. 2 WKU (17-12) vs. No. 10 UAB (14-16), 1:30 p.m.
No. 3 Rice (22-7) vs. No. 6 UTSA (12-18), 2 p.m.

Making history: UTSA’s Jenkins wins Conference USA Player of the Year honors

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Junior Jordyn Jenkins has emerged as the first player from the UTSA women’s basketball program to earn Player of the Year honors in Conference USA.

Jordyn Jenkins. UTSA beat Florida Atlantic 77-61 in Conference USA women's basketball on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA forward Jordyn Jenkins averaged a C-USA best 21.1 points per game. – File photo by Joe Alexander

In announcing postseason honors Tuesday afternoon, the C-USA also listed Jenkins as Newcomer of the Year and all-conference first team. In addition, her teammates Elyssa Coleman made the C-USA’s all defensive team and Sidney Love was named to its all freshman team.

The Roadrunners picked up three awards in men’s basketball, with Jacob Germany and Japhet Medor being named all conference honorable mention, while D.J. Richards made the all freshman team.

Jenkins led the C-USA in scoring (21.1) en route to lifting the team to a sixth seed in the tournament and a 7-3 record in the second half of a 20-game conference schedule.

She also led the conference in field goal percentage (49.4) while ranking second in rebounding (7.5) and fifth in blocked shots (1.2).

It is the third time in conference history that one player has earned both Player and Newcomer of the Year. SMU’s Keena May was the last player to do it in 2013. It’s the first time is the first time a Roadrunner has earned the C-USA Player of the Year since starting play in the conference in 2013-14.

Jenkins joined Loryn Goodwin as UTSA players who have earned Newcomer of the Year. Goodwin, a guard, achieved her honor in 2017.

In an interview with The JB Replay on Monday afternoon, Jenkins said she was happy with the way she played this season in her first at UTSA after transferring from Southern Cal.

Asked if she’d be disappointed if she didn’t win Player of the Year, she answered, “My whole life, I’ve never really been into awards. Probably because most of the time, I haven’t really got any.

“I’ve always been on the back of that,” Jenkins said. “You know, I’m grateful for whatever. It’s just about how you perform.”

During the same interview session, UTSA coach Karen Aston said, “I’ll be real surprised if she doesn’t get it. When you look at her numbers, they’re pretty staggering. Her performances have been worthy of the award.”

Once a nuisance, Sidney Love’s brother is now her inspiration

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Where was UTSA guard Sidney Love on Monday night? She was in her dorm room, watching basketball on ESPN, naturally.

Sidney Love. UTSA beat Idaho 76-69 in women's basketball on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Freshman Sidney Love from San Antonio-area Steele High School, the youngest of five siblings, is averaging 9.0 points and 4.1 rebounds in 18 games for the UTSA Roadrunners — File photo by Joe Alexander

“Made sure I watched it from start to finish,” she said.

Why? Well, she did have an older brother in the game, and he was blowing up against the ninth-ranked Jayhawks on national television.

Redshirt freshman guard Langston Love came off the bench and scored 11 points in the second half as No. 17 Baylor scored a 75-69 victory in the Big 12.

“Very proud of him after that performance,” Sidney Love said Wednesday afternoon.

For Love, UTSA’s precocious freshman guard from Cibolo Steele High School, it was just another memorable moment in a lifetime spent growing up in a big family. With four siblings — two older sisters and two older brothers — it’s never been dull.

As UTSA prepares to host the North Texas Mean Green in women’s basketball Thursday night, Love playfully recounted what it was like for her at home when she was a kid.

“Getting picked on all the time,” Love said, smiling mischievously, “having to do everything for them, because I was the youngest. It was still fun, though. We would fight. We had good times, too.”

Nineteen-year-old Sidney has always been tight with Langston, now 20, even when they were in grade school and arguing seemingly over every little thing.

“Growing up with him? We were (like) an old married couple,” Sidney Love said, grinning. “We’d fight every day.

Karen Aston. UTSA women's basketball lost to UTEP 74-67 in Conference USA on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, at the Convocation Center. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Coach Karen Aston’s UTSA Roadrunners host the North Texas Mean Green tonight at 7 in the Convocation Center. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“We’d get in trouble every single day. It was just, back and forth. He’d be snitching on me. I’d be saying, ‘No, I didn’t do it.’ Just fighting all the time.”

It wasn’t always the kid stuff, however.

“By the time we got older, we were just friends,” Sidney said. “We just wanted the same thing – (to) play basketball … After we passed that (initial) stage, it was OK.”

Both of Sidney’s older sisters played soccer, and both were so good at the sport that they advanced through youth leagues to play collegiately in San Antonio, Endasia at Trinity University and Camille at St. Mary’s.

Her brothers, meanwhile, trended toward basketball. After leaving Steele, Kijana Love played at the University of New Hampshire and at Baylor.

Langston Love, perhaps the most gifted athlete in the family, spent two years at Steele and two as a four-star recruit at Montverde Academy in Florida before linking with the Baylor program under coach Scott Drew.

For the 6-foot-5 Baylor guard, last year was a heartbreak.

He blew out a knee on the eve of fall practice and had to sit out the season. All of which made it even sweeter for UTSA’s Sidney Love to savor every minute of the second half of Kansas-Baylor.

“You know, he’s had some ups and downs,” she said. “He just came off his injury, so this was a game that really showcased him and how he can play.”

Langston Love’s little sister is coming along pretty well, herself.

Sidney Love, who plays both guard positions, is averaging 9.0 points and 4.1 rebounds for the Roadrunners. She’s also assisted on 39 baskets.

She had 23 points and seven rebounds in a New Year’s Eve homecourt victory over the UAB Blazers.

The Roadrunners have struggled as a team, going 4-14 and 2-7 in Conference USA, but that was more or less expected coming off a seven-win season a year ago and trying to rebuild under second-year coach Karen Aston with eight newcomers, including five freshmen.

Love has struggled herself with the speed and physicality of the game, committing 57 turnovers, including 16 on the recent three-game road trip.

Aston isn’t stressed out about the mistakes, though. She knew from the moment she signed the former player of the year in San Antonio-area high school basketball that she would need to be patient with her.

Asked directly if she was happy with Love’s progress, Aston didn’t hesitate, “For sure.”

“I mean, I do think she could do more,” Aston said. “I think the physical part of the game is a lot for her and the other freshmen. And I think some of the teams in our league have really figured that out.

“I think she’s learning every single day. But what I think is going to make her so much better is when she can really take a deep breath at the end of the year and make an assessment, and say, ‘Ok, I do need to get stronger.’

“ ‘I do need to get more aggressive and more physical and take contact better.’ You can’t do that right now. She can’t fix that right now. You know, that’s just going to be an evolution for her.”

Love said she believes the Roadrunners have the time to make a move in the second half of the C-USA schedule.

“Definitely,” she said. “We have a whole second round of conference to really prove ourselves, to showcase what we can really do. Even if they might be counting us out early, like you said, we’ve got until March (for the C-USA tournament).

“It’s not going to happen right now. Nothing’s set in stone right now. So, we’ve got a long way to go to prove ourselves.”

Love said she can’t dwell on her legacy as a dominant high school player in the San Antonio area.

“I’ve learned that whatever work I did in the past, it doesn’t really matter any more, because I have to attack college even harder,” she said. “I could do more, just to be in the same place, because it’s a different level here than it was in high school.

“But I just have to stay consistent. I have to play hard. I need to have heart every single day I come in here, and I’ll be fine.”

Her older brother showed some heart earlier this week under the bright lights of ESPN Big Monday.

It was a performance that resonated all the way to San Antonio and inspired at least one fan of the game, watching on her laptop.

“I just want to do the same thing,” Love said, “and amplify it even more, because it’s great to watch somebody you know succeed. I just want to grow off that, feed off that energy.”

S. A. area athletes in NCAA Division I women’s basketball

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NCAA Division I women’s basketball

Athletes from the San Antonio area

Editor’s note: With practices in NCAA Division I basketball starting this week and next, The JB Replay is taking a look at women from the San Antonio area and where they will play this season. This list likely does not include everyone from the area in Division I. It’ll be updated when any additions come to light. — Thanks, Jerry

Hailey Adams, Rice, 6-1 guard, freshman from Clark HS

Myra Bell, UIW, 5-10 guard, a junior from Taft HS

Aja Holmes, Southern Illinois, 5-8 guard, sophomore from Steele, transfer from TCU

Sahara Jones, Texas A&M, 6-0 guard, junior from Veterans Memorial

Sidney Love, UTSA, 5-8 guard, a freshman from Steele HS

Deja Kelly, North Carolina, 5-8 guard, a junior from San Antonio Johnson HS and Duncanville HS

Amira Mabry, Tulane, 6-0 forward, a freshman from Judson HS

Aaliyah McMillan, UT Rio Grande Valley, a 5-8 guard, RS freshman from Steele; transfer from UT Arlington

Tiffany McGarity, UT Rio Grande Valley, 5-9 guard, junior from Judson HS

Bria McClure, College of Charleston, 5-5 sophomore from Steele HS

Brenna Perez, UIW, 6-0 forward, a junior from Veterans Memorial HS

Alexis Parker, UTSA, 5-9 guard, freshman from Brandeis

Zaya Price, UIW, 5-10 guard, junior from Steele

Aaliyah Roberson, TCU, 6-2 forward, freshman from Clark

Kierra Sanderlin, Houston, 5-7 guard, sophomore from Judson; transfer from Rutgers

Carleigh Wenzel, Virginia Tech, 6-0 guard, freshman from O’Connor and Antonian

Kyra White, UTSA, 5-9 guard, a junior from Judson; transfer from USC

UTSA women pass a test of physical fitness and toughness

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The end of an hour-long UTSA women’s basketball workout on Thursday morning wasn’t always a pretty sight. Mixed with the male practice players, the women were pressed into a physical, five-on-five session.

Sometimes, the offensive possessions went awry. But occasionally, as shown in the video above, the Roadrunners showed signs of coming together.

One play in particular was emblematic of the workout. After the offense worked the ball inside and out and a shot was fired from the perimeter, it caromed off to the side, where freshman Alexis Parker retrieved it.

Parker tossed it outside, where freshman point guard Sidney Love hit a shot from the top of the three-point circle. Two kids from the San Antonio area, making it happen at the end of a long morning, with nobody around to watch except for the coaches.

“Any time we step on the floor we expect a lot of energy, a lot of communication between our players and our best effort,” UTSA assistant coach Jamie Carey said. “So no matter if it’s a good day or a bad day we do expect that every day.”

Carey said she liked the team’s defensive effort.

“From a positional standpoint, we’re getting a lot better,” she said. “We’re learning how to communicate with each other.”

In addition, Carey applauded the competitive spirit.

“I thought the last five minutes with the guys was good today,” she said. “Just learning how to compete together (with) a lot of new faces (on the team). Just trying to develop some chemistry.”

Aston says freshman Sidney Love is in the mix to start at point guard for UTSA

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Sidney Love at UTSA women's basketball practice at the Convocation Center on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022. - photo by Joe Alexander

Sidney Love was the player of the year in the San Antonio area last season at Cibolo Steele High School. She averaged 23 points, nine rebounds and seven assists as a senior. – Photo by Joe Alexander

As Karen Aston moves into her second season as head coach in charge of the UTSA women’s basketball program, a compelling narrative has emerged during early practices for the Roadrunners.

A freshman could lead them.

Aston said Tuesday that freshman Sidney Love from Cibolo Steele High School is in the running to start at point guard.

Love is battling in early fall semester practices with senior Deborah Nwakamma, as well as with freshmen Madison Cockrell and Siena Guttadauro.

“I think right now Sid is the person that we’re going to lean on the most at that position,” Aston said. “I think Deb can play it also. Deb is probably more calm at that position right now and knows more what’s going on. But I would love to play her at the two.

“We just got to let Sid take her lumps and grow and learn the position. She’s doing a good job. I think she’ll get there.”