SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA women's basketball team will meet East Carolina on Tuesday, with a 5 p.m. C.T. American Athletic Conference showdown set at the Minges Coliseum in Greenville, North Carolina.
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+, with Evan Budrovich providing play-by-play alongside Brittany Hoyt. Neal Raphael will deliver the radio call in the greater San Antonio area on The Bull 93.3 FM and worldwide on the iHeartRadio app.
The Roadrunners (6-6, 0-1 AAC) are looking to bounce back against the Pirates, last falling to Temple in what represented the program's inaugural contest in The American.
The Owls outscored the 'Runners 71-58, despite senior Kyra White posting a game-high 16 points at the Liacouras Center. Along with White, redshirt junior Elyssa Coleman and freshman Idara Udo scored in double-figures, with Coleman dropping 11 and Udo 10. Sophomore Sidney Love was also solid, tying Coleman as the team's leading rebounder with seven boards to go along with five points and five assists.
UTSA remains atop the AAC in the trio of statistics, with 45.8 rebounds per game, slotting them 12th nationally and helping the squad to a plus-11.9 rebounding margin that's 18th across the NCAA. Additionally, 5.2 blocks per game tie Memphis for the most in the AAC and the 22nd-most on the national leader board.
A trio of Roadrunners rank inside the top-five on The American's individual leader board, with White pacing the league, logging 35.2 minutes per game. She also has logged 49 assists for the fifth-most in the league, and is fifth in blocks per game with 1.33. Coleman, meanwhile, swats 1.75 bpg for the second-highest total, and Love's 83.7% free throw percentage ranks second as well. Love continues to lead the squad in scoring, with 11.8 ppg, placing her just above White's 11.1 ppg. Coleman serves as the 'Runners' top rebounder with 7.3 rpg, and Udo is not far behind, boasting 6.3 rpg.
The Pirates (7-4, 0-0 AAC) have yet to play a conference contest and are coming off a 73-36 defeat at the hands of No. 1 South Carolina that snapped a five-game winning streak. The 2023 American Athletic Conference Champions, ECU, picked up right where they left off, dropping contests only to VCU, Ohio State, Seton Hall, and the Gamecocks across their nonconference slate.
One of, if not the nation's top defensive team, the Pirates serve as the NCAA's turnovers per game leader, forcing a whopping 26.64. Their 9.64 turnover margin and 13.8 steals per game each rank third nationally, and a 54.5 scoring defense tops the AAC.
Danae McNeal has played a significant role in the program's defensive prowess, swiping 3.55 steals per game for the fifth-most across the country. She also serves as the second-best scorer in The American, with an 18.2 ppg average, sitting just behind Temira Poindexter of Tulsa. Additionally, McNeal's always got the green light, sitting second in the AAC with 190 field goal attempts that are converted at a 39.5% clip.
Also serving as a league leader, Amiya Joyner is the only conference member with more blocks per game than Coleman, as she swats 1.82 blocks each time out and is second in the AAC with 8.6 rpg. Her 4.3 offensive rebounds per game sit seventh nationally, cementing her as one of the league's top forwards.
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.