Wednesday, Jan. 20
Highlights
Houston 80, Temple 46
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team recorded its third straight victory in an 80-46 decision over Temple (4-5, 4-2 American) at the Fertitta Center on Wednesday afternoon.
The Houston Cougars (8-4, 5-3 American) handed Temple its second loss of conference play behind five double-digit scoring efforts, as Laila Blair led the way with a career-high 19 points. The freshman went 5-of-5 from the charity stripe, and 2-of-3 from three-point range. Tatyana Hill put up 16 points, 11 rebounds and three steals for her second double-double of the season. Miya Crump added 15 points and six rebounds. Dymond Gladney scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, and notched three steals. Britney Onyeje recorded her second consecutive double-digit scoring game with 10 points, two steals and a team-high two blocks.
Houston's 34-point victory is its largest margin of victory against an American Athletic Conference opponent in program history.
Temple was led by Jasha Clinton with a team-high 14 points.
Houston got off to a strong start, with Blair leading the way, scoring seven of her 19 points in the opening frame. Hill cleaned the glass for Houston grabbing four rebounds in the first quarter and racking up six of her 16 points in the first 10 minutes of play. Houston turned 10 first quarter Temple turnovers into 17 points.
In the second quarter, the Houston defense continued to cause trouble for Temple as the Houston bench got involved, outscoring Temple's bench 8-3. Gladney and Crump paced the Houston offense with five points each, as the Cougar's led by as many 16 points to close out the quarter with a 13-point lead. In the first half, Houston forced 16 Temple turnovers as the Cougar bench outscored Temple's bench 21-3.
Crump and Hill combined for 14 of Houston's 24 third-quarter points. Houston did not allow a made three-point basket from Temple in the third quarter as Temple shot 33.3 percent from the field. Houston's lead expanded to 26 points with 15 seconds remaining and the Cougars went into the final 10 minutes of play with a 66-40 lead.
The Cougars allowed Temple to score only six points in the fourth quarter. The Houston lead expanded to 36 points with 5:45 remaining in the game. Onyeje added six more points to the Cougar effort going a perfect 2-of-2 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
Memphis 62, Cincinnati 51
Senior forward Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu recorded her sixth double-double of the season scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds as Memphis defeats the Cincinnati Bearcats 61-52 in Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday evening. Memphis snapped a five-game losing streak and claimed its first conference victory of the season. The Tigers are now 3-7 overall and 1-4 in the American Athletic Conference.
"I thought our team was really committed to the game plan, we executed really well on offense and we moved the basketball," said Memphis head coach Melissa McFerrin. "Our girls who got to get on the court were effective and it was a really good team win."
Memphis got its momentum going early as the Tigers went on a 9-1 run over two minutes to start the game. Cincinnati answered with an 8-0 run to take the lead and held on to it until early in the second quarter, but a 10-0 run by the Tigers put them back on top. A pair of three-pointers with less than four minutes left in the first half help propel Memphis to a 34-25 lead.
The Tiger held on for the duration of the game allowing the scoring margin to expand as far as 12 points.
Fankam Mendjiadeu was one of three Tigers to score in double digits against the Bearcats. She was accompanied by Alana Davis who had 14 points and seven rebounds and Aerial Wilson with 10 points and seven assists.
Tulsa 68, East Carolina 54
Tulsa used a strong fourth quarter en route to a 68-54 win over the East Carolina Pirates Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Hurricane improved to 4-5 overall and 3-5 in the American Athletic Conference, while ECU fell to 5-8 and 3-5 in AAC play.
Freshman Jessika Evans had a career night with her first double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds, while junior Desiree Lewis also turned in a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Maya Mayberry led the scoring with 21 points as the junior converted on 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range for her third 20+ scoring game in the last four contests.
"I thought our kids banded together. We got shoulder-to-shoulder and made them take a tough shot or kick it out," said Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman. "I thought Jessika made some freshmen mistakes, but she doesn't typically make the same mistake twice. She held her own against a veteran team and I'm proud of her for getting her first double-double, and I don't think it will be her last."
Tulsa outscored the Pirates 21-9 in the fourth quarter to expand a 2-point end of third quarter lead to a 14-point victory, the largest of the season for the Hurricane. Tulsa connected on 46-percent of its field goals in the final stanza, while holding ECU to just 13-percent from the field in the final 10 minutes.
The Pirates scored the first points of the second half to take a 34-33 lead, but that would be the only lead of the final 20 minutes for the visitors. Tulsa built a 54-47 advantage on an Evans put-back jumper at the 7:43 mark, before ECU went on a 7-0 run to knot the score at 54 with 4:16 left on the game clock.
Tulsa finished out the game on a 14-0 run over the final four minutes for the victory.
The Hurricane ended the game with a field goal percentage of .423, while also knocking down 81.8 percent from the free throw line. Tulsa won the battle on the boards, 46-34, and dished out its second-most assists for the season with 15.
"I am really proud of the way we put tougher four complete quarters. It took players like Maddie Bittle and KK Rodriguez coming off the bench. Maddie was solid defensively and got some huge rebounds, KK gave them fits at the top of their 2-3 zone and didn't let Lashonda Monk get much going in the fourth quarter," added Mossman.
It was a close first half as the biggest lead was 5 points for Tulsa to start the second quarter and ECU's biggest lead was 4 points in the first period at 4-0. Tulsa's largest first-half advantage came on its first basket of the second quarter when Maya Mayberry knocked down a 3-pointer to make the score 19-14.
Tulsa took a 13-12 lead at the 2:03 mark of the first quarter and didn't give up the lead until the 2:37 mark of the second period when Lashonda Monk hit a three-pointer for the Pirates. Maya Mayberry's three-pointer with 2:12 left in the first half put the Hurricane back on top by one point, 33-32.
The score would stay at 33-32 at halftime.
The Hurricane shot 39-percent from the field, while ECU had a field goal percentage in the first 20 minutes of 46 percent. The difference in the half was an 8-3 edge in free throws made for the Hurricane.