Wednesday, Nov. 28
Highlights
Florida Gulf Coast 76, Houston 71
The Houston Cougar Women's Basketball team mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter, but ultimately fell 76-71 at Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
Houston had one final gasp in the fourth quarter, where the defense would hold Florida Gulf Coast without a field goal for the first 8:47 of the period. Serithia Hawkins opened the quarter with a layup before Keri Jewett-Giles knocked down a pair from the line for FGCU. From there, Houston would go on a 17-0 run to pull within one.
Angela Harris started the run with a layup before Hawkins would knock down two from the line. After a free throw from Jasmyne Harris a minute later, Angela Harris knocked down a 3-pointer, which was followed by a bucket from Branch, two more from Serithia Hawkins and a layup from Blackshell-Fair to bring the score to 63-62 with 2:39 remaining in the game.
From there, the teams would trade a pair from the line, before Nasrin Ulel knocked down a big 3-pointer to extend the lead back to four at 70-66. Following an offensive foul call on the other end, Houston's bench picked up a technical foul, and the Eagles extended the lead out of reach to 74-66 with just 27 seconds remaining.
Despite coming up short of their comeback bid, the Cougars held Florida Gulf Coast to just two field goals in the period and outscored FGCU 28-15 over the final 10 minutes.
Houston was led offensively by junior guard Angela Harris who finished with a season-high 16 points. Serithia Hawkins finished the game with 13 points, while pulling down 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season and the 20th of her career. Senior Myyah West also reached double figures with a season-high 12 points.
Ball State 75, Cincinnati 63
University of Cincinnati women's basketball saw its three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday with a 75-63 loss to Ball State at Worthen Arena.
With the defeat, the Bearcats dropped to 5-3 on the season, while the Cardinals halted a four-game losing skid to improve to 2-5 on the year.
UC battled back from a 20-point second-half deficit, but was unable to pull closer than 12 late in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals forged ahead to victory.
Junior guard Antoinette Miller led the way on the offensive end for UC with 16 points and six assists. Sophomore forward Andeija Puckett joined Miller in double-figure scoring with a career-best 11 points to go along with five rebounds and a pair of steals. In addition, junior forward Angel Rizor neared a double-double with nine points and a team-best eight rebounds.
Out of the break, UC struggled to stymie BSU's momentum as the Cardinals increased their advantage to a game-high 20 points, 53-33, with four minutes remaining the third quarter. Facing adversity, the Bearcats rose to the occasion and ended the period with a 12-4 run to trail 57-45 heading into the final stanza. In the fourth quarter, the Bearcats showed fight, but just couldn't quite get over the hump of a 12-point deficit, resulting in a 75-63 setback.
UConn 99, DePaul 63
No. 2 UConn had some business to take care of before heading to Indiana and Sunday's showdown with No. 1 Notre Dame.
Napheesa Collier scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Connecticut passed its first test of the season against a ranked opponent by routing No. 16 DePaul 99-63 on Wednesday night.
Katie Lou Samuelson added 23 points for the Huskies (6-0), who shot almost 61 percent from the floor. Additionally, the senior set the American Athletic Conference career record for 3-pointers made with two on the game, upping her mark to 308. She surpassed the previous mark of 307 held by USF’s Kitija Laksa.
The Huskies scored the final 16 points of the first quarter to stretch a 16-15 lead to 32-15. They extended that run to 24-0 led by Samuelson, who hit her first four 3-point shots and finished 5 of 6 from behind the arc.
A fast-break layup from Crystal Dangerfield gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead at 52-22 and UConn went into halftime up 54-25.
The Blue Demons, who came in averaging 86 points a game, shot just 33 percent from the floor and were 12 of 44 from 3-point range, including just 5 of 27 in the first half, when the game was decided.
UConn: The Huskies regular-season winning streak is now 121 games. The Huskies also won their 81st straight home game, and their 53rd straight regular-season non-conference game.
Tulsa 75, Abilene Christian 63
Tulsa's Alexis Gaulden had a game-high 24 points to lead the Golden Hurricane to a 75-63 victory over the Abilene Christian Wildcats Wednesday night in front of 872 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Tulsa held the Wildcats to 16 points below its season average for its fourth win of the year to improve to 4-3, while the loss was the first for Abilene Christian, dropping to 6-1 on the season.
Abilene Christian came into the game averaging 79.1 points per game and out-scoring the opposition by nearly 24 points.
The Wildcats scoring output decreased each quarter going form 19 in the first 10 minutes to 17 in the second period, 14 in the third and 13 in the final stanza.
Gaulden led four players in double-figures for the Hurricane as Morgan Brady and Crystal Polk added 14 points each and freshman Maddie Bittle had 13 points. Gaulden and Brady shared the team-lead for assists with five each and Brady grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
The Hurricane out-scored the Wildcats 39-27 in the second half, including 18-13 to close out the final quarter. Tulsa led by as many as 15 points twice in the fourth period at 73-58 on a Crystal Polk layup with 2:30 to play, and 74-59 at the 1:32 mark.
Tulane 88, Florida Atlantic 45
Everything went right for the Green Wave women's basketball team in an 88-45 victory over FAU at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
Shooting? The Green Wave outshot the Owls 55 to 26 percent from the field.
Rebounding? Tulane had a double-digit advantage there at the end of the night, 41-29 to be exact.
Defense? Tulane forced 24 FAU turnovers and converted those into 33 points, also holding the Owls to just 7 of 35 from the 3-point line.
It all added up to a blowout victory for Tulane (5-1), who continued its perfect record at home this season with its third win on Freret Street. FAU (2-5) was out of the game early, as the Green Wave used a 12-0 run in the first quarter to build a double-digit lead and never relinquished.
Five players on the roster finished in double-figure scoring led by freshman Dynah Jones' 19. But Krystal Freeman (15), Kayla Manuirirangi (12), Harlyn Wyatt (12) and Kaila Anderson (10) also reached at least 10 points.
Anderson may have had the most complete game of any Green Wave player, scoring her 10 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting while also tying for the team lead with five assists and adding five rebounds. Wyatt topped the team with six rebounds, and Manuirirangi and freshman Erin Gutierrez each had five assists as well. Jones had the team high with five steals, and all but one player had at least one rebound.
SMU 73, North Texas 66
Alicia Froling became the Mustangs' career leader in rebounds as SMU topped North Texas, 73-66, on Wednesday inside Moody Coliseum.
The Mustangs won their 16th consecutive home game against the rival Mean Green in a game that saw SMU erase a 20-point deficit.
North Texas jumped out to a large advantage in the first quarter, outscoring the Mustangs 25-5 in the game's opening period. The Mustangs slowly chipped away at the lead throughout the next two quarters. In the second, the Mustangs responded by cutting the Mean Green lead in half. The Mustangs hit 9-of-20 in the quarter, forced six turnovers and were aided by a 12-0 scoring stretch midway through the quarter.
SMU kept the momentum going into the third quarter. The Mustangs were able to get to the line often in the third and took advantage, knocking down 11-of-12 in the period. Ariana Whitfield's layup with three minutes to go in the third quarter evened the score, and the Mustangs took their first lead on a Kayla White fast-break bucket on the following possession.
The fourth quarter was all Mustangs as SMU stormed ahead for good. A 7-0 run in the middle of the period extended the lead to eight heading into the game's final two minutes. SMU continued to hit from the line to close out the Mean Green. SMU finished 20-of-23 from the line in the second half.
Alicia Froling grabbed her historic rebound in the third quarter, passing Janielle Dodds' tally of 974 career rebounds. The Australia native collected another double-double in Wednesday's game with 15 points and 14 rebounds, tying her for the lead in the NCAA with six on the season. Additionally, Froling added six blocks, one off the single game SMU record.
Kayla White led the team with 17 points in 31 minutes of floor time. Ariana Whitfield added 16, while also contributing five boards, three steals and three assists.
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