Panthers winning-streak ends after falling short to Roadrunners

Peter Holland, Jr. // Staff Writer

The Panthers’ fourth quarter comeback after an 18-point deficit in the third quarter wasn’t enough to seal their third straight victory. The team’s mini winning streak was cut short in their 70-61 loss to University of Texas San Antonio.

Fresh off an emotional triple overtime win against University of Texas El Paso, the Panthers, despite a close first half, only trailing 29-35, showed lack of energy in the second half, giving up 14 unanswered points.

Head Coach Tiara Malcom, with less than three minutes into the third quarter, took out three of her starters before making a major comeback.

“In the beginning of the game, we were kind of in a log and we felt that points in time throughout the game we were down big and I made some substitution and some people coming off the bench gave us a little bit of a spark,” said Malcom. “When you dig yourself in a hole, it’s hard to come out of that to survive and win the game.”

The Panthers struggled on defense, giving up wide open three-point shots during UTSA’s 14-0 run. The roadrunners were 7-16 in three pointers, and completed .421 shots made all game.

“They were knocking down shots, we weren’t defending,” said Malcom. “When stuff did happen, we kind of put our heads down. We were getting easy looks inside and we weren’t converting. We kind of went backwards a little bit as far as hanging our heads a little bit and things like that when something doesn’t go our way.”

The spark came from freshman Kayla Rogers coming off the bench ending the Panthers’ scoring drought after scoring five straight points in the beginning of their comeback. The left-handed Jacksonville native would lead the team with 14 points, along with starting forward Janka Hegedus with 12 points. Sophomore guard Kristian Hudson recorded her second straight double-click with 11 points and 10 rebounds despite a losing effort.

At 4-12 (2-3 in C-USA), the Panthers will begin their three game road trip, beginning with Middle Tennessee State University on Jan.19 at 7:30 p.m. Next home game will be on Thursday, Feb. 2 against Old Dominion University at 7 p.m.

Post-game interview with Head Coach Tiara Malcom can be watched here: