Wednesday, Nov. 25
Highlights
Houston 97, Oklahoma 85
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team opened its season with a 97-85 win over Big 12 foe Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon at Lloyd Noble Center.
Four Cougars (1-0) turned in double-figure scoring efforts led by redshirt sophomore, Britney Onyeje with a team-high 23 points in her collegiate debut. Julia Blackshell-Fair nearly had a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds, as Dymond Gladney led UH in assists with seven.
Houston shot 43.6 percent from the field, including 31.1 percent from three-point range.
Oklahoma's (0-1) Madi Williams led all scorers with 25 points, as Mandy Simpson posted a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
Houston set the the tone early via a 7-2 scoring run in the first two minutes of the game. Julia Blackshell-Fair scored the first Cougar basket of the 2020-21 season, driving through the lane after gaining control of the jump ball. Sharpshooting and tough defense helped OU even things up at the halfway point of the frame, 11-11. Both teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the first quarter before a timely three-point basket from junior Ca'Leyah Burrell gave Houston a one-point advantage at the quarter break.
Leading 26-25, Houston turned things up defensively in the second quarter and ultimately outscored Oklahoma, 20-19. Blackshell-Fair remained poised, but aggressive earning three trips to the free throw line where she knocked down 5-of-6 free throw attempts. UH forced four OU turnovers, outscoring the Sooners 7-3 off turnovers to close out the frame. As time dwindled down, Houston redshirt senior Eryka Sidney dribbled to the top of the key where she sank a jump shot with only second left on the clock to give UH a 46-44 lead at the half.
The third quarter would be the turning point for the Cougars as Houston outscored Oklahoma 27-17. UH got going from behind the three-point line, knocking down four of its seven attempts. Onyeje paced the Cougars, scoring 13 of her 23 points during the third quarter, including three made three-pointers. Houston held Oklahoma to 16.7 percent shooting from three-point range, outscoring OU 6-0 in transition.
The Houston defense kept things tight as time winded down, forcing six fourth quarter turnovers. Fouls plagued the Cougars as Oklahoma managed to chip away at UH's lead with help from trips to the free throw line. Freshman, Laila Blair had the hot hand in the fourth quarter, scoring seven of Houston's 24 fourth quarter points. The Cougars held on, late ultimately picking up its second straight win over the Sooners.
UCF 60, Virginia 34
The UCF women's basketball team shook off a slow start to post a 60-34 season-opening win over Virginia in Addition Financial Arena on Wednesday evening.
UCF (1-0) trailed Virginia (0-1) 13-5 after the first quarter of action. The Knights went on to outscore the Cavaliers 55-21 over the next three periods en route to the victory. The Black and Gold poured in 28 points in the second frame alone.
Defense has been a staple under UCF head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson and Wednesday was no different. The Knights forced Virginia into 30 turnovers, converting those into 27 points. After the Cavaliers opened the game shooting 50 percent from the field, the Black and Gold defense clamped down and did not allow Virginia to covert more than 37 percent of its shots in the remaining three quarters.
Diamond Battles finished with a career-high 17 points to lead UCF. The Winter Haven native shot 50 percent from the floor, dished a game-high seven assists and had five steals. Making her UCF debut after being cleared for immediate eligibility by the NCAA, Alisha Lewis added 13 points and had six assists off the bench.
Courtajia Sanders matched Battles with five steals and pulled down five rebounds to go along with nine points. Destiny Thomas grabbed five boards off the bench for the Knights.
Cincinnati 73, Northern Kentucky 67 (OT)
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team (1-0) pulled out a heart-stopping, 73-67, overtime comeback victory against Northern Kentucky in the season opener for both teams Wednesday inside Fifth Third Arena.
Seniors Iimar'i Thomas and Arame Niang had near-career days to help secure the win.
Thomas put up 34 points, seven rebounds and six assists. She was one point shy of matching a career high in points (35 vs. Houston on Jan. 22, 2020).
Thomas, the American Athletic Conference Co-Preseason Player of the Year, poured in 28 of her 34 points after intermission, including 13 points in overtime. She shot 14 of 23 from the floor after halftime, including a 3-pointer with 3:33 left in overtime that gave the Bearcats a 64-57 lead to lock up the win.
Niang scored 13 points against NKU (0-1) marking the fifth double-digit game of her career, the first as a Bearcat. The Western Kentucky transfer was 4 of 8 from the floor, made all five of her free throws, and had three assists and two steals in 27 minutes of play.
Redshirt-junior guard Addaya Moore and junior guard Milan Schimmel tallied eight points each. Junior guard Destiny Haymer added seven points and game-high six assists.
Ally Niece led NKU with 17 points.
UC struggled in the first half, falling behind by as many as 13 points and trailed 27-15 at halftime. The Norse ended the first half on a 20-9 run.
But the Bearcats got the ball in the hands of Thomas more in the second half and slowly chipped away at the deficit. UC outscored the Norse 19-12 in the fourth quarter, grabbing their first lead since the game's first few minutes on a free throw by Niang with 2:47 left in regulation. After a 3-pointer by NKU's Grayson Rose, Thomas answered with a basket in the paint with 1:25 remaining to send the game into an extra period.
With the win, UC evens the all-time series with NKU at 10 games apiece. The Bearcats improve to 27-23 all-time in season openers, having won all three during the Michelle Clark-Heard coaching era.
Tulane 88, Nicholls State 43
The Tulane University women's basketball team (1-0) opened the 2020-21 season on a high note, as it posted a convincing 88-43 win over in-state rival Nicholls State Wednesday evening inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Green Wave never trailed in the game and improved to 32-12 all-time against Nicholls State. Lisa Stockton has never lost a game to Nicholls State in her tenure as the head coach of the Green Wave.
"We started off a little sluggish, but I was glad to see our offense kick into gear and shoot a pretty good percentage in both halves," Stockton said. "We started shooting the three a lot more accurately and I thought that was a positive. In the second half, I thought our defense did a really good job of clamping down, but also just not giving them a whole lot of scoring opportunities."
Tulane's 88-point outburst were the most for the Green Wave since posting 88 against FAU back on Nov. 28, 2018.
Senior Krystal Freeman led the way for the Green Wave with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor. Joining Freeman in double figures was freshman Jerkaila Jordan, senior Sierra Cheatham and junior guard Dynah Jones, as they finished with 17, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Freeman also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, as she recorded her 18th double-double.
As a team, Tulane held Nicholls State to just 25 percent shooting, including just 17 percent from beyond the arc. The Green Wave connected a 47 percent clip for the game and held a commanding 54-24 advantage on the glass.
Neither team led by more the two points in the opening 7:30 of the first quarter, but in the final two minutes of the first quarter, Tulane began to make its move, as it outscored NSU 7-2 to open up a 21-13 lead by the end of the opening frame.
Tulane continued its strong play into the second quarter, as it would opened up a 18-point with just under four minutes to go in the first half (40-22). The Green Wave would go to take a 51-28 lead into the locker room. Tulane connected at a 46.2 percent clip going 17-of-34 from the field.
Freeman led all Tulane scorers in the opening 20 minutes, as she scored 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
The Green Wave put the game away in the third quarter, as they held the Colonels to just 1-of-15 in the frame and outscored Nicholls State by 23-4 count. Jordan led all Green Wave scorers with eight points in the quarter.
Towson 89, East Carolina 81
East Carolina rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to knot the score in the fourth quarter, but Towson was able to hold on for an 89-81 non-conference victory to open the 2020-21 season Wednesday afternoon inside SECU Arena.
ECU was shorthanded entering the game, playing without the services of 2019-20 American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year Lashonda Monk who averaged 14.9 points per game a season ago.
"It was definitely not the outcome we hoped for and expected coming into this game," head coach Kim McNeill said. "Towson is a really good team with some kids that can flat out score the ball. We have to do a better job defensively. You can't give up 89 points and expect to win the game. It's just not acceptable. We did have some kids come off the bench and give us good minutes which was nice to see. We'll work on getting Lashonda healthy, but there aren't any excuses right now. We need to be better."
The Tigers (1-0) shot 44.4 percent (28-of-63) from the floor and out-rebounded the Pirates (0-1) by a 41-35 margin, while ECU converted 26 of its 67 (38.8 percent) field goal attempts. After finishing second in the nation in turnovers forced per game a season ago, the Pirates' stifling defense did not let up as Towson coughed the ball up 24 times leading to 27 East Carolina points. ECU also pocketed nine steals.
Graduate student and guard Sierra DaCosta turned in a huge debut in the Purple and Gold, scoring a game-high 25 points while hitting 10 of 12 free throw attempts and pulling down a team-best seven rebounds. Freshman guard Synia Johnson also reached double figures in her first collegiate contest, finishing with 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Sophomore guard Taniyah Thompson, who was named unanimously to the 2019-20 AAC All-Freshman Team, chipped in with 12 points of her own.
Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Player of the Year Kionna Jeter paced the Tigers with a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds to go along with 13-point efforts out of Aleah Nelson and Shavonne Smith. Nelson also dished out five assists.
The 81 points scored by the Pirates represent the most in McNeill's tenure while Dacosta is the first Pirate to hit 10 or more free throws in a contest since Monk knocked down 15 against Memphis back on Feb. 9, 2019.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for much of the first five minutes before junior forward Tiara Chambers scored a basket and hit the ensuing free throw to put East Carolina in front 14-9 with 4:41 remaining in the quarter. The Pirate advantage would balloon to nine following a Xianna Josephs jumper and ECU would settle for a 22-16 edge heading into the second stanza.
The home team began to rally as the second quarter commenced as Towson put together a 12-4 run to knot the score at 26 with 7:01 on the clock. The rally continued for the Tigers and they would stretch their lead all the way to 13 at 50-37 after a Nelson fastbreak layup. The Pirates would score the final three points of the half to leave Towson with a 50-40 cushion at the break.
Jeter led all players with 16 points in the first half while Dacosta finished with 12, including an 6-for-6 performance at the line. The Tigers hit an astounding 64 percent of their shots from the field while limiting ECU to 37.5 percent.
Wiebke Schwartau kept Towson in front by 13 with a layup early in the third period, but a three-point play out of Thompson sparked a 12-0 East Carolina run that sliced the Tigers' lead all the way down to one with 3:34 to play. Maggie Sharp knocked down a three to stretch the Towson advantage back to six, but freshman guard Alexsia Rose and Johnson hit on back-to-back layups to keep the Pirates close. Rose converted a pair of free throws for the final points of the stanza as the Tigers carried a slim 64-62 edge into the final 10 minutes of play.
East Carolina rallied to tie the score at 70 after a big three-point field goal by sophomore guard/forward Ryann Evans with almost three minutes gone in the fourth, but Nelson answered in kind with a triple to put her side back on top. The Pirates got a couple of defensive stops in the next few minutes. However, Towson had the answer each time and was able to keep ECU at an arm's length the rest of the way.
Texas 90, SMU 51
It was a tough lesson, but the SMU women's basketball team gained valuable experience Tuesday in a loss at [RV/RV] Texas in the Erwin Center in the season opener for both teams.
"Now we know what kind of effort we have to practice with in order to be able to compete with a team of that caliber," head coach Travis Mays said after the loss.
Three of the four newcomers saw game action, accounting for 45 of the 200 minutes played. Junior transfer Jahnaria Brown scored five points with two rebounds in just under 20 minutes. Freshman Rhyle McKinney played 22:23, making a mark on the defensive end of the floor with two steals and countless deflections. Tamia Jones also scored five points with a team-high three assists in 13:32.
Amber Bacon led the team with 13 points, and Desirae Mathis added seven with a pair of three-pointers. Overall, the Mustangs shot 37.0 percent from the field, and trailed 38-41 in rebounds.
Mays and the coaching staff will get some time to implement some of the lessons learned from the 90-51 defeat as SMU's next game is scheduled for Dec. 3. The Mustangs play at home for the first time, taking on Texas State at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum.