Saturday, Feb. 16
Highlights
Houston 63, ECU 52
Behind a career-high 21-point effort from Dorian Branch, the Houston Cougar Women's Basketball team extended its home winning streak to four with a 63-52 win over ECU Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.
Two Cougars finished the game in double-figures with Branch posting her third double-digit scoring effort in the last five games, draining three three-pointers to lead all scorers with 21 points. Serithia Hawkins closed the game with 13 points, and eight rebounds, picking up her 900th career rebound and becoming the second Cougar in program history to reach 1000 points and 900 rebounds.
ECU finished the game with two players in double figures led by Raven Johnson with 16 points, following by Salita Greene with 13 points. Greene led the Pirates with six rebounds and three Pirates finished with three assists each.
The Pirates would manage to cut the lead in the third quarter, outscoring Houston 19-15. Although the shots weren't falling for the Cougars, Houston would force eight ECU turnovers and capitalized on second chance points, holding a 6-4 edge in the category at the end of the frame. Alyssa Okoene gave ECU trouble in the paint, scoring all four of her points in the third quarter and grabbing three rebounds. Houston would head into the fourth quarter leading ECU 45-44.
With time dwindling down, Hawkins would take the reigns of the Houston offense pouring in nine of Houston's 18 fourth-quarter points and adding three rebounds in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Hawkins was unstoppable in the paint, earning two trips to the free throw line where she hit three of four shots. The senior would grab her 900th career-rebound with four minutes remaining in the contest. Houston would hold the ECU offense to eight points in the fourth quarter and close out the game with a 63-52 victory.
USF 59, Tulsa 48
USF, with just seven players, outscored Tulsa 16-2 in the fourth quarter to earn a crucial conference win, 59-48, at the Yuengling Center on Saturday.
Freshman Luize Septe had a career high night with 16 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, two steals and an assist, including a 7-0 run by herself in the third quarter to give USF a temporary lead.
USF (13-12, 4-7 AAC) never led after each of the first three quarters in the back-and-forth game which saw the score tied seven times. But in the fourth quarter, Elisa Pinzan knocked down her only three pointer of the game to tie the contest for the last time. Tamara Henshaw went on a 6-2 run by herself, with those two points being Tulsa's only points of the quarter. Three more Bulls went on to score seven more points and Tulsa fell to 11-13 on the season and 5-6 in AAC play.
Henshaw finished with her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but the Bulls were led by Enna Pehadzic with a game-high 20 points.
Memphis 65, Tulane 59
The University of Memphis women's basketball team held off a fourth quarter Green Wave rally to defeat Tulane by a score of 65-59 Saturday afternoon. The Tigers evened the season series against Tulane with the win and improve to 10-15 on the year and 5-7 in American Athletic Conference play.
Sophomore forward Alana Davis led Memphis with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double, including a 13-point effort in the second quarter. Jamirah Shutes also came up big for the Tigers, scoring 19 points and hitting all eight of her charity stripe attempts.
Trailing 16-13 with 5:33 before halftime, Gazmyne Herndon hit the first of two three-pointers in the contest to tie up the game at 16-all. Just over a minute later, Jada Stinson did the same, knocking down her second triple to tie the game at 21-all.
Memphis rallied to score the final nine points of the second quarter to go into the intermission with a 30-22 lead.
Tulane answered out of the break on a 6-0 run, but the Tigers responded. Memphis held Tulane to just two more points in the third quarter and again, finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to go up 14.
Leading by 19 with 6:49 remaining, Memphis had a hard time containing a fourth quarter Tulane surge. The Green Wave rattled off four three-pointers and an 11-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. That lead dwindled down to two with 39 seconds remaining in the game before the duo of Shutes and Jasmine James drained six consecutive free throws to make it a two-possession contest.
Tulane ultimately outscored Memphis 29-21 in the fourth quarter, but the free throws down the stretch by James and Shutes sealed the road victory for Memphis.
UConn 78, UCF 41
Despite a physical effort from the opposing team, UConn imposed its will on the game, outworking UCF inside and out.
Napheesa Collier was the key, getting 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and four steals as No. 4 UConn completed a 78-41 victory Sunday.
Five players scored in double figures for the Huskies (23-2, 11-0 American), including Christyn Williams, who scored all of her 12 points in the second half.
The Huskies also held a plus-13 advantage on the boards and a 10-point advantage in paint points.
UCF surrendered 23 turnovers with just eight assists in a game where they shot 33 percent on the day.
Kay Kay Wright was the only offense for the Knights (20-5, 9-3 American) for most of the game, scoring 17 points. UCF shot 17 for 50 from the field and didn't attempt a free throw until midway through the third.
The Huskies hopped out to a 23-4 lead over the Knights led by Collier who scored or assisted on 16 of 20 of the teams' first 20 points scored. UCF responded with a 17-7 run, but wouldn't cut in any more as they went on a four-minute scoring drought into the break.
The Huskies struggled from deep early on (2 for 10), but they picked it up in the second half, knocking down (6 of 9) in the second half, making UCF pay off of over helping on dribble penetration.
The Knights forced the Huskies into 21 turnovers, but they were only able to turn those opportunities into 14 points.
Temple 78, Cincinnati 70
A 12-0 early fourth quarter run powered the Temple women's basketball team to a 78-70 win over visiting Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. The win avenged an earlier 72-52 loss to the Bearcats for Temple, as the Owls improved to 9-15, 5-6 in conference play. Cincinnati falls to 16-9, 8-4 in the American.
In a game of runs, Temple had the final say, using a strong fourth quarter to seal the win. The Owls led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter before Cincinnati battled back to go ahead by four late in the third. Temple rebounded to lead by three after three quarters of play, before the fourth quarter surge provided the final spark the Owls needed.
Four players finished in double figures for the Owls led by graduate Alliya Butts' 23 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Mia Davis and junior Shantay Taylor each racked up double-doubles, with Davis tallying 17 points and 13 boards, while Taylor added 12 points and 11 boards with three blocks.
Temple led by 10 points early on in the third, but a huge Cincinnati run erased the advantage. The Bearcats scored 13 unanswered points in seven minutes, turning a 42-33 deficit into a 46-42 lead. However, trailing 51-47 with 2:10 on the clock, Temple closed out the frame on a 10-3 advantage to lead 57-54 after three.
Cincinnati quickly tied the game at 57-57 with a three to open the fourth, before Temple took over. 12 unanswered points from the Owls, including six from Butts, pushed it to 69-57 with under four minutes to play. The Bearcats rallied to cut it to a four-point game (72-68) with 1:09 remaining, but Temple closed it out on the free throw line.
Wichita State 53, SMU 42
Wichita State held SMU to 22.2 percent shooting for the game and led almost wire-to-wire in a 53-42 win over the Mustangs Sunday afternoon in Charles Koch Arena.
Wichita State (11-13, 4-7) shot 50 percent in the first half, but went just 4-for-24 from the field after halftime and finished 32.6 percent for the game. The Shockers were 8-for-22 from beyond the arc, setting a new season high with their eight made three-pointers.
SMU (8-17, 2-10) outrebounded WSU 45-25, but committed 29 turnovers and hit only 5-of-25 three-point attempts to go with its 22.2 percent shooting overall. The 29 forced miscues set a season high for the Shocker defense.
Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage collected her 10th game in double-figures with a team-high 12 points – all before halftime. Seraphine Bastin left her fingerprints all over the game, finishing with 10 points, a season high nine assists and six rebounds. Carla Bremaud added 11 points behind 3-of-8 shooting from long distance.
Kayla White was the lone Mustang in double-figures with 14 points.
Bremaud and Bastin combined to score the first 11 points for Wichita State to help build an early 11-4 lead four minutes into the game. SMU missed nine of its first 11 attempts from the field, while the Shockers started 4-of-7 behind a pair of Bremaud three-pointers.
Wichita State wouldn't score its first point of the third quarter until the 3:45 mark on a Bastin dish to Ambrosio in transition. Prior to Bremaud's three-pointer with 29 seconds left in the quarter, WSU missed 12 of its 13 field goals and would finish the period just 2-of-15.
Despite a poor shooting performance in the frame, WSU still led 42-27 entering the final quarter. Midway through the fourth, WSU continued to keep its lead in double-digits, 48-31, coming on the heels of a Bremaud baseline floater. SMU held the Shockers without a field goal for the final 5:09, but could only cut the deficit to 11.
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