The No. 6 Seed UTSA women’s basketball team did the improbable, winning four games in four days at the American Women’s Basketball Championship, ultimately claiming a 54-40 victory over No. 1 Seed Rice on Saturday to secure the title and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
UTSA will learn its seeding and first-round matchup when the full 68-team field, including the full seed list, and site assignments are announced at 7 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 15. The selection show will air on ESPN.
The public is invited to join the team for an NCAA Selection Show watch party on Sunday evening at the university’s Park West Field House (8000 TX-1604 Loop). Doors open at 6 p.m.
The Roadrunners will play in their first NCAA tournament since 2009, which will mark the program’s third overall appearance, after receiving automatic bids for winning the Southland Conference tournaments in 2008 and 2009. For the first time in program history, UTSA is competing in postseason play for the third consecutive year.
Senior Cheyenne Rowe was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the American Conference Championship. Senior Ereauna Hardaway and junior Idara Udo were named All-Tournament Performers.
UTSA won four games in four days to claim the tournament championship at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala. The Roadrunners defeated No. 7 seed Temple, No. 3 seed South Florida and No. 2 seed East Carolina before besting Rice in the championship game. The Roadrunners deployed stifling defense to power their run through the conference tournament.
One day after holding East Carolina to its lowest scoring output of the season, the Roadrunners (18-15, 9-9 American) took down the Owls (28-5, 17-1 American) by holding Rice to its lowest scoring output of the season. The ’Runners shot 42% to the Owls’ 27%. UTSA dominated points in the paint 32-14 and totaled a season-low eight turnovers.
The squad’s two seniors, Hardaway and Rowe, led the Roadrunners in scoring with 13 points apiece. Rowe was UTSA’s leading rebounder with eight boards to complement two blocked shots, while Hardaway brought down five boards and dished out a team-high four assists. Udo added 11 points to go along with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Rowe opened the scoring — her two early buckets had UTSA up 6-1 in the first. The Owls connected on back-to-back shots to pull within one. They hit from beyond the arc as time expired in the quarter for an 8-6 edge entering the second.
Rowe, Hardaway and freshman Adriana Robles made shots to start the subsequent stanza, as an 8-0 run had UTSA back in front, 14-8. The Owls sank a shot from deep to cut into the lead, but sophomore Damara Allen got a shot to fall, to push the margin back to 16-11. UTSA finished the quarter strong, taking a 20-13 halftime lead into the locker room.
After exchanging a flurry of points to start the third, UTSA used a 10-0 surge to go up 34-20 and firmly take control of the game in the third quarter. Rice snapped the scoring streak with a layup, but Hardaway nailed a step-back three-pointer that sparked a 6-0 stretch that put UTSA up 18. Rice would get no closer than 14 points for the remainder of the game, including the final 54-40 margin.
