Aston, Jenkins break records in final six games of the season

By Haley Aguayo Staff Writer

After the Roadrunners started 2-8 in their first 10 conference games, the UTSA women’s basketball team closed its season in the semifinal round of the Conference USA tourna ment, closing a 6-game winning streak, including two post-season victories.

The final games included some record-setting occurrences. Coach Karen Aston made her 300th career win as a head coach over North Texas on Feb. 20. Forward Jordyn Jenkins also broke the single-season scoring record with 33 points in the win against FIU on Feb. 28.

The 6-foot junior has made highscoring games more of the norm in UTSA’s home stretch of the season. Jenkins scored 40 points in the Road runners’ victory over North Texas in the same game Aston claimed her 300th victory.

“That was pretty cool,” Jenkins said. “The game before that we played UAB, we just didn’t play up to our potential. We knew that would have been her 300th win, so playing North Texas, coming in and winning was great for her and the 40 plus points was the cherry on top.”

There was a point in UTSA’s season when playing three games was not expected, let alone a single victory.

The players, of course, were aware of where they stood in the league standings, though they knew what they could be capable of.

“We’ve definitely been in the bottom two or three, I think, for a lot of the season,” Jenkins said. “Just climbing up, it was cool to see. It was cool to hear coach tell us all the different placements that we’re in and hear about defensive rebounding and offensive rebounding.”

After years of experience as head coach, Aston knew that it would take time for a team to find its rhythm.

Jenkins shared a piece of advice her coach offered the team at the start of the season.

“Coach would say to us at the be certainly get looks from major league scouts.

Antonio Valdez will look to continue his historic start to the season against UTRGV at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 21, at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.