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Young stars on the rise for the surging UTSA women

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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 guard Damara Allen scored seven points, all in the fourth quarter, on three for three shooting to help rally the Roadrunners past the Rice Owls Wednesday night. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Whatever ultimately happens in UTSA’s quest for a championship season in women’s basketball, Jordyn Jenkins, Sidney Love and Nina De Leon Negron will fuel the charge. They are the headliners on a team that has shown NCAA tournament potential through their first 15 games.

But as the twice-beaten Roadrunners prepare to host the Wichita State Shockers Saturday at the Convocation Center, two freshmen have started to emerge as players who could become important components in the team’s effort to make history.

Guard Damara Allen and power forward Taylor Ross both delivered significant production Wednesday night in UTSA’s 67-58 victory over the Rice Owls.

Taylor Ross. 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 forward Taylor Ross, from San Antonio’s Brennan High School, had six points and four rebounds in six minutes against Rice, the defending tournament champion in the American Athletic Conference. – Photo by Jerry Briggs

With Love unavailable because of an illness, Allen started and produced seven points and four rebounds. Ross, from San Antonio Brennan High School, had six points and four boards in only six minutes. Both were in the game at the same time for a couple of minutes in the fourth quarter when the Roadrunners rallied to win.

Allen started the fourth period, and then Ross took the floor 15 seconds later when Idara Udo picked up her fourth foul. Just about that time, good things started to happen for UTSA. When De Leon Negron missed a driving layup, Ross muscled inside to grab the offensive rebound and scored.

After Rice scored on the other end, Allen responded, sneaking inside to take an inbounds pass from De Leon Negron and hitting an easy layup. Next offensive possession for the Roadrunners, Allen scored again, this time driving to the hoop on the right side, stopping and spinning back to her left for another layup – good for six straight points combined for the two first-year players.

Finally, as the Roadrunners were trying to seal the deal in the last minute of the game, Allen popped out behind a screen set by Udo, executed a step-back move behind the arc and did the honors, knocking down a three from the top of the circle.

UTSA coach Karen Aston liked what she saw from her two freshman.

“Taylor’s going to learn,” Aston said after the game. “I mean, this was a great learning experience for her. She had a couple of really huge plays and, you know, a couple of freshmen plays.

“But that’s about the only way you can get through to a freshman sometimes, it’s for them to experience it in a game. So, I think today will make Taylor so much better and more engaged. And then Damara came in, and, the thing I think I’ll go back and look at on film, that probably will please me the most, is that they knew what they were supposed to do.

“And that’s a big step. You can’t just run around out there. Like, there’s details to what you’re doing on the defensive end. I thought there were some moments when (the Owls) were running stuff that maybe could have suckered our young kids, and I could tell they knew where they were supposed to be. I mean, that’s a big step for us.”

While Ross has played sparingly to this point in only 10 games, Allen, from Aurora, Colo., has been on the floor quite a bit, appearing in 14 games and earning three starts. Allen, in fact, is one of the fastest-improving talents on the team. Averaging 13 minutes for the season, she is playing 17 per game in conference.

A wing player who can play both the small forward and shooting guard, she’s almost doubled her scoring average in AAC games to 5.8, and her shooting percentages have also risen. After suffering some shooting woes in November and early December, Allen is hitting 42.8 percent on field goals and 38.4 percent from three in conference.

“We’re all comfortable with her shooting shots and making them,” Jenkins said. “She just has to be comfortable (herself). As long as she’s comfortable, then, we’re deadly.”

Allen said she is enjoying herself, playing on a contending team and contributing.

“I feel like it’s extremely fun,” she said. “As a freshman, to experience the culture, it’s definitely exciting. Everybody is excited to be here. My teammates are super fun. And the coaching staff. I really love them, too. They make it fun.”

Allen admitted that the work-load can be a grind, but it all pays off on game nights, particularly with the exhilarating finish to the Rice game.

“I know we came out slow,” she said. “But, we just had our composure the whole game, and going on a run in the quarter, it was definitely exciting. You can, like, feel the energy in the Convo.”

Rice won the American Athletic Conference postseason title and played in the NCAA tournament last year, so, hitting the three-point shot to close out the Owls was a special feeling for Allen.

“I felt on top of the world,” she said. “I know it sealed the deal, but having my teammates celebrate, and everybody just being there, it was super fun.” A little chaotic, but fun. “Yeah, I was getting pushed around a little bit,” she said, smiling.

After growing up in Aurora, Colo., Allen moved to Texas last summer, which was a significant change for her in a lot of respects

“It’s been a lot,” she said. “I know the first time I came here, it seemed like it was super hot, because I’m from Colorado. But the change of pace and the grind that we put in here, is so much different than high school. In high school, it’s not as serious as it is here.”

Allen said she embraces the grind because she knows she is improving.

“I’m in the gym every day,” she said. “I have, like, two-a-days before practice and after practice. Getting in the film room is also part of the grind. Like, I love it.”

Allen and Ross aren’t the only freshman making contributions to the program. Coaches are also high on guard Mia Hammonds, from San Antonio-area Steele High School, and center Emilia Dannebauer from Germany, though those two haven’t played as much.

“Since we came here in the summer, we’ve all been pretty close,” Allen said. “Like, Taylor, Mia and Emilia, they’re my best friends. I feel like I can talk to them and tell them anything. Like, off the court, too. We hang out all the time.”

And now, at least for one big game recently, Allen and Ross celebrated their roles in a victory, which also may have served as a preview of even better days ahead — this season, and beyond. “I think it means a lot for us because we’re so young,” Allen said. “But we just want to help the team for the overall goal.”

UTSA women’s report

Records: Wichita State 7-10, 1-3; UTSA 13-2, 4-0

Coming up: Wichita State at UTSA, Saturday, noon. UTSA at Memphis, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Notable

The UTSA men will play Wichita State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Roadrunners (6-8, 0-2) and the Shockers (10-5, 0-2) are still looking for their first victory in AAC play.

UTSA women’s team guard Sidney Love practiced Friday and is expected to play after sitting out the Rice game. Forward Nyayongah Gony has been on crutches this week, so it’s doubtful that she will be available.

Wichita State has lost four of its last five. In conference, the Shockers lost at home to North Texas and on the road at Memphis. They won on the road at UAB and then got walloped 72-46 at home by South Florida Wednesday night. Forward Jayla Murray (12.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg) leads Wichita State.

Making a statement? Ross finishes UTSA workout with a 3-point shooting flourish

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

Taylor Ross, a UTSA freshman from Brennan High School, showed off her long-distance shooting touch in a drill at the end of Monday’s practice. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

I’ve seen the UTSA women’s basketball team practice probably a half a dozen times since July, and it seems like each time I come out to watch at the Convocation Center, a different player catches my attention.

Four months ago, a few days before the 4th of July holiday, I remember a workout that featured UIW transfer and point guard Nina De Leon Negron running the court and setting up the offense with slick ball handling and passing.

I noticed her touch passes into the paint, right on Jordyn Jenkins’ fingertips.

Later on, it was junior guard Siena Guttadauro, a returning player who didn’t see the floor much last season, coming on strong with confident play in the backcourt. In addition, I also remember Mississippi State transfer Nyayongah Gony.

The lithe, 6-foot-4 post seemed a bit out of synch on my first trip to campus. But slowly, step by step, she started to get better and better. In the last two or three workouts in a row that I’ve witnessed, Gony stood out with her speed, defensive agility and rebounding.

She was good again on Monday when she’d sprint in drills with multiple players on the floor, each of them combining to push the ball from end to end with long passes, all in an effort to get as many layups as possible in a certain amount of time.

Finally, as the workout was winding down, another player popped up on my radar. Six-foot-one freshman Taylor Ross drilled her first attempt in a three-point shooting drill. The shot looked smooth, so I kept my eye on her.

Pretty sure she knocked down five threes in a row, from different angles, before missing her last two. Other players seemed to have a pretty good rhythm, as well, with several knocking down triples from the corner, the wing and the top.

But it was Ross, a first-year college player from San Antonio’s Brennan High School, who seemed to have it really going on, perhaps trying to make a statement.

Playing power forward on a talented team, Ross is battling behind the likes of Jenkins, a preseason all-conference pick, and Gony, who has experience at both the University of Miami and Mississippi State, so finding playing time for her might be a challenge.

At least, initially.

“It’s going to take her awhile to get used to the speed of the game and the physicality, but she’s one we’re super excited about,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “She does have a lot of versatility, and she can stretch the floor at that four (position).

“I think she’s going to learn a lot from playing with someone as experienced as Jordyn.”

Last season, the Roadrunners were a team that excelled with their defense and their rebounding. They ranked among the national leaders in both categories in finishing 18-15 and making it all the way to the WNIT quarterfinals.

This year, Aston will demand excellence on the defensive end, as she always does, but it might be unfair to expect them to be as good as last year on that end of the floor.

Last season, with center Elyssa Coleman patrolling the paint and Kyra White on the perimeter, UTSA shut down opponents, holding them to 64 points and 36 percent shooting. Both players have moved on in their careers, leaving the Roadrunners to search for a new identity.

Could they find it with more proficient perimeter shooting? Based on early reports, they have a chance.

“I think we’ll possibly hit the three a little bit better,” Aston said. “Maybe (we’ll) be a little more versatile. I think our post players have created a little more range in their shooting. They’ve gotten to a place where they’re a little more confident facing up to the basket than they were last year.”

In the frontcourt, both Jenkins and Idara Udo seem capable of hitting from distances beyond where they have shot in the past. Jenkins hit some from three last year after she returned from knee rehabilitation, and she looks comfortable again from that distance.

In the backcourt, freshman shooting guard Aysia Proctor did the most damage for the Roadrunners last season, making a team-high 40 triples on 38.5 percent.

But this year, she should have help from the other guards, namely point guards Guttadauro, De Leon Negron and Sidney Love.

Guttadauro, a 5-6 junior from San Jose, Calif., might have the most upside potential to get hot and sink the long ball in bunches, but all three can hit it. In addition, freshmen Damara Allen and Mia Hammonds have both shown flashes, as well.

Last year, the Roadrunners struggled mightily from the three-point line. They shot 29.4 percent to rank 11th in the American Athletic Conference and 240th out of some 360 teams in NCAA Division I.

“We’ve emphasized it a lot,” Aston said. “We have spent a lot more time on it … quite a bit more time than I have in the past, in practice. But, you know, they got to show up and do it in a game.”

Notable

UTSA will host San Antonio’s St. Mary’s University Rattlers, a Division II program, on Friday night in its one and only exhibition. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The Roadrunners will open the regular season on Nov. 7 at Texas A&M.