Roadrunners women’s basketball is making great strides, led by the top scorer in the American Athletic Conference in Jordyn Jenkins.
SAN ANTONIO — Weeks ago, when asked how she viewed their close season-opening loss at Texas A&M after going on to win seven straight, Karen Aston was blunt.
“I’ll tell you that we’re still mad about it,” said the head coach of the UTSA women’s basketball team. “It was one that I felt like we could have won.”
Well, that’s just about all the Roadrunners have done since.
With the exception of that loss to the Aggies and a five-point loss at Stanford in mid-December, UTSA is rolling into mid-January with a 14-2 record, and growing mightily in the process.
“We wanted to gain some respect and put a product on the court that we thought the community would enjoy watching,” Aston said. “I think we are there. We are proud of where we are and still hungry, and understand that there is still lots to be done.’
Coach Aston has improved the program from seven wins in 2021-22 to 13 wins the following season to 18 wins and an NIT bid wins in 2023-24, to where they currently sit this season. And, suddenly, anything is possible heading into the AAC portion of their schedule.
Like, NCAA Tournament-possible, a place they’ve not been since 2009.
“I’ve never been to the tournament, and this is my last year,” said senior star forward Jordyn Jenkins, whose 19.7 points per game leads the American Athletic Conference. “We have a really good shot at it, so we just have to keep it up and keep going.”
“The more wins that we get, we are proving it to ourselves that we can be a team that can make it and go far, especially to the NCAA Tournament,” said junior guard Sidney Love.
How is the team doing it? By locking in on both ends of the floor. Boasting the AAC’s top defense (54.7 points given up per game) and sixth-best offense (67.6 points per game) means the ‘Runners are winning by an average of 12.9 points per matchup, tops in the conference and good for 17th in D1 women’s basketball.
The team is seeing success this season, and wins will do that. But even more than having that fun, they are also believing, which has their February and March prospects looking better than ever.
“Literally, like, every time I’m in the shower I’m thinking about winning the conference tournament,” said Jenkins. “(Thinking of) cutting the net down, like you have no idea.”
“Our conversations off the court most of the time are about the team and things we can do to improve,” said graduate student guard Nina De Leon Negron, the current AAC leader in assists with 5.1 per game. “I would say we are really focused on the goal.”
The ladies are experiencing their best start in school history and will have plenty of remaining conference game opportunities to prove it.
“Just to be having conversations where we know that it is actually something that we could accomplish is lots of fun and rewarding,” said Coach Aston. “They don’t take anything for granted. I think they enjoy the process of getting better every day. They really love game day.”
UTSA continues conference play Wednesday night at Memphis. #BirdsUp