San Antoinio, TX—-UTSA leaned on poise and experience down the stretch in a back-and-forth battle that featured eight ties and seven lead changes, ultimately pulling away for a 69–63 win over Charlotte on Saturday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Ereauna Hardaway delivered in the closing moments, scoring five of the Roadrunners’ final six points to keep UTSA unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play. The victory improved UTSA to 8–6 overall and 3–0 in league action, while Charlotte dropped to 8–9 and 2–2 in conference play.
The Roadrunners have now won five consecutive games against the 49ers, narrowing Charlotte’s all-time series edge to 7–6. UTSA is coming off a historic season in which it captured the AAC regular-season title with a 17–1 conference record, including a perfect 13–0 mark at home, and set a program record with 26 wins. Despite that success, the Roadrunners fell in the opening round of last year’s conference tournament and narrowly missed their ultimate goal — an NCAA Tournament berth.
“The championship last year was great, but the end goal was that we wanted to go to the NCAA Tournament, and we fell short in the very first game of the conference tournament,” UTSA head coach Karen Aston said. “This year, we want to peak in March when you’re supposed to. The end goal is still the NCAA Tournament.”
Hardaway provided the defining moment late in the fourth quarter. With 1:25 remaining, the Jonesboro, Arkansas native crossed over her defender, created space with a between-the-legs move, and buried a jumper from the left elbow to give UTSA a 64–62 lead. Moments later, she stepped in front of her assignment and drew a charge with 26 seconds left, igniting a Convocation Center crowd dressed in camouflage for the “Salute to Service” game.
Charlotte nearly capitalized on a UTSA mistake when senior forward Asianae Nicholson intercepted a pass on an inbounds play and was fouled on the ensuing fast break. Nicholson made one of two free throws before UTSA’s Damara Allen was intentionally fouled after securing the rebound. Allen calmly knocked down both free throws to extend the Roadrunners’ advantage to 66–63.
The 49ers appeared to tie the game with a late three-pointer, but the basket was waved off following an away-from-the-ball foul, drawing disbelief from the Charlotte bench and players.
Hardaway sealed the win at the line, converting three of four free throws in the final 14 seconds to put the game out of reach.
Sophomore guard Mia Hammonds provided a major boost off the bench, scoring a career-high 17 points.
Despite joining a program fresh off a championship season, Hardaway said she feels no added pressure and is focused on building on last year’s success.
“The first thing I said was, ‘Let’s go back-to-back,’” Hardaway said upon arriving at UTSA.
UTSA will travel to Tampa to face South Florida on Tuesday, while Charlotte returns home to host Tulsa on Saturday, Jan. 17.
