UTSA women open play today in the AAC at Charlotte

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

After losing only twice in the first few months of the season, UTSA women open conference play today on the road against the Charlotte 49ers.

The Roadrunners (9-2) will carry high hopes of making an American Athletic Conference championship run into a meeting with the 49ers (5-6) at 1 p.m. at Halton Arena.

Blessed with a dynamic scoring threat in forward Jordyn Jenkins, quality guard play and a defense yielding only 55 points per game, UTSA has won six times by double-digit margins.

The Roadrunners have had a week off since routing Texas State, 70-54, in San Marcos on Dec. 21. On that same day, the 49ers also played on the road and lost by 27 at Davidson.

In falling 82-55, Charlotte failed to score 60 for the eighth time this season.

Playing under the guidance of new coach Tomekia Reed, the 49ers’ best hope today might be in controlling the pace and locking down on the defensive end, where they’re holding opponents to 64.2 points.

Charlotte has won three games this year during which it has limited opponents to fewer than 50 points. The 49ers won at Mercer on Dec. 5 by 43-42. They did it again at home on Dec. 16 when they beat Winthrop, 55-47.

Jackson State transfer Hayleigh Breland leads Charlotte, averaging 11.9 points and 5.2 rebounds. Forward Keanna Rembert, who averages 9.9. points and 6.0, was one of the players who faced the Roadrunners last year in San Antonio.

Rembert played 37 minutes and scored 10 points as the Roadrunners downed the 49ers 81-80 in double overtime.

Records

UTSA 9-2
Charlotte 5-6

Coming up

UAB at UTSA, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.

Notable

Both the UTSA women and men will play today for the first time since the holiday break, and both are on the road.

The men (6-5) will take on the Army Black Knights (5-6) at West Point, N.Y. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. It’s the last non-conference game for the Roadrunners before they open AAC play on Jan. 4 at Tulane. Tai’Reon Joseph, Raekwon Horton and Marcus Millender are expected to play.

Joseph and Horton sat out UTSA’s last game, on Dec. 19, against Southwestern Adventist. Millender exited the game in the first half with an injury.

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