SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA women's basketball team used a freshman Idara Udo double-double to down a first-place North Texas squad on Wednesday, using overtime to top UNT 75-65 in American Athletic Conference action inside the Convocation Center.
The Roadrunners (11-9, 5-4 The American) took down the Mean Green (17-4, 7-2 The American), handing them their first defeat since Dec. 30, 2023. The UTSA forwards were phenomenal across the contest, with Udo scoring 14 points and logging 12 rebounds, while redshirt junior Elyssa Coleman scored nine points with nine boards and four blocks.
Sophomore Sidney Love and freshman Aysia Proctor joined Udo in the double-digit scoring club, as Love charted 13 and Proctor 11. Senior Kyra White was also solid, scoring seven points to go with six assists and four rebounds. Getting in on the action, graduate student Hailey Atwood scored five, allowing her to surpass 1,000 career points across her collegiate career.
Defensively, UTSA was stellar, holding the nation's 15th-most efficient shooting team to a 29% clip, 18% under their 47.6% average. The Roadrunners collected 11 more rebounds than the opposition and performed better at the charity stripe, sinking 79% of their freebies to UNT's 68%.
Coleman and freshman Aysia Proctor each hit shots to hand UTSA an early 6-3 lead in the first quarter, but UNT answered with a triple, causing a back-and-forth battle that ended in a 16-16 tie.
White sparked a 9-0 run in the second stanza, with sophomores Alexis Parker and Cheyenne Rowe hitting shots in the streak. With UTSA now leading 29-24, UNT halted the run with a three-pointer before heading into the locker room trailing 35-28.
The Mean Green started the third quarter off hot, sinking back-to-back triples to open the frame. Love answered from downtown, seeing a 38-34 Roadrunner lead. The squads exchanged blows ahead of a 6-0 North Texas surge, ending the period with UTSA clinging to a 47-45 edge.
In the fourth, UNT used a 7-0 spurt to take a 52-49 advantage. Udo kept the 'Runners in the fight with a jumper, and later, Love and Coleman sunk shots en route to a 56-54 score line, favoring UTSA. The Mean Green again knotted things up before logging a layup that saw a 56-56 tie with a minute in regulation. Neither team could tickle the twine as the seconds ticked off, sending the contest into overtime.
The Roadrunners began the extra frame with a Proctor layup, to which UNT responded with an and-one. UTSA then went streaking as Udo converted an and-one of her own, prompting a 10-0 run that was capped off with a Proctor triple. Now up 68-59, the 'Runners coasted, cementing the 75-65 win on a pair of Love free throws.
UTSA will remain in the Convo, next facing Tulane in a Western Weekend-themed matchup on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Keep up with UTSA Women's Basketball all season long on goutsa.com and by following the program on Facebook at /UTSAWBB, X (Twitter) @UTSAWBB, and on Instagram @UTSA_WBB.
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