By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
A 20-win season is in reach for the surging UTSA Roadrunners.
Karen Aston’s first-place UTSA Roadrunners lead in the AAC standings by one game in the loss column over the South Florida Bulls. – File photo by Joe Alexander
Coach Karen Aston’s first-place Roadrunners (19-3, 10-1) will play on the road against the Wichita State Shockers (8-16, 2-9) in an American Athletic Conference game that tips off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena.
UTSA has won 20 in a season only three times in the first 43 years of the program. The Roadrunners first hit the plateau in 1983-84 when they went 21-6 under Coach Bill MacLeay. They did it again in 2007-08 and ’08-09 when they carved out back-to-back marks of 23-10 and 24-9, respectively, under Rae Rippetoe-Blair.
For Aston, winning 20 would be a meaningful milestone because she has always thought it represented a successful season. It might be more meaningful for the fourth-year coach this time, considering UTSA was 2-18 in 2020-21, the year before she was hired.
Aston has won 20 eight times in her 16 previous seasons as a head coach. She reached the plateau twice in four years at Charlotte and six times in eight seasons at Texas.
The Roadrunners are on a roll, registering a 12-1 record in their last 13 games. The only loss in the streak came Jan. 22 at South Florida. On that day, they played without star forward Jordyn Jenkins for the only time this season and fell 75-63 to the Bulls.
UTSA, in its last two games, played at home and downed a pair of AAC challengers in the Temple Owls and the North Texas Mean Green. Against North Texas on Tuesday night, Jenkins produced 26 points and eight rebounds, Idara Udo notched a double double and Sidney Love blocked a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer. The Roadrunners came away with a 54-52 victory.
The Roadrunners are trying for a series sweep against Wichita State. They beat the Shockers 69-51 on Jan. 11 in San Antonio.
Men’s basketball
Meanwhile, the UTSA men will play later Saturday at home in the Convocation Center when they host the East Carolina Pirates. Tipoff will be at 7 p.m.
The Roadrunners (10-12, 4-6) lost the first game in the second half of the AAC schedule in heartbreaking fashion Wednesday night, allowing the Tulane Green Wave to erase a 10-point deficit in the final three minutes to win 61-60. Marcus Millender scored a career-high 28 points in the loss.
The Pirates (12-11, 4-6) also lost a home game on Wednesday, falling 73-60 to the Rice Owls.