Wednesday, Feb. 10
Houston 89, Temple 52
The University of Houston Women's Basketball team (11-5, 8-4 American) picked up its third straight win and swept the regular-season series with Temple (7-8,7-5 American) in an 89-52 decision on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The Cougars scored a whopping 89 points, for its most against an American Athletic Conference opponent in program history and its second straight win over Temple by over 30 points. Houston improves to 12-5, its best record through 16 games since the 2010-11 season when the Cougars were 12-4 through 16 games.
Four of the Cougars starters closed out the game in double-figures, led by Britney Onyeje with 19 points. Laila Blair was second on the team in scoring with a career-high 18 points, followed by Miya Crump and Dymond Gladney with 13 points each. Tatyana Hill led Houston with eight rebounds, as Gladney dished out a team-high six assists.
Onyeje and Gladney combined for eight made three-pointers as Onyeje matched her career-high in the category. The Cougars held Temple to nine percent shooting from three-point range and scored 40 points off turnovers. The UH bench outscored the Temple bench 24-4.
Temple was led by Alexa Williamson with 19 points.
Houston jumped out in front early, taking a 7-0 lead before the eight-minute mark. Gladney and Onyeje highlighted the run with made three-pointers. Temple fired back with a 7-0 run of its own, but UH remained composed. Baskets from Blair, Crump and Onyeje's second made three-pointer of the day comprised the Cougars second scoring run of the day, as UH outscored Temple 9-0 leading up to the first media timeout of the game. The Cougars continued to stifle the Owls, outscoring Temple 16-3 over the final six minutes of play in the frame. UH held Temple scoreless for the final three minutes of the quarter and went into the break with a 24-10 lead.
UH continued to make it hard for Temple to score, holding the Owls scoreless for over three minutes leading up to the second quarter media break. The Houston lead ballooned to 17 points, behind baskets from Tatyana Hill and Kamryn Jones. The Cougars didn't take any plays off, making defensive stops even when the shots weren't falling as both teams fought to control the pace. The Cougars forced three Temple turnovers over the final 1:26 of the second quarter and went into the locker room leading, 38-18.
Onyeje was the first Cougar to reach double-figures with a three-pointer to open the frame for the Cougars, her third of the day. The Cougars hit all three of their field-goal attempts leading up to the five-minute mark of the frame, capping it off with Gladney hitting her second triple of the day. Temple began to find a rhythm in the latter part of the third quarter to cut the UH lead to 20 and force a timeout. Eryka Sidney ignited the Cougar offense out of the huddle, dishing out a pair of assists to help Houston closeout the frame on a 5-2 scoring run and with a 61-38 lead.
Houston knocked down a pair of three-pointers to open the fourth quarter and embarked on an 8-0 scoring run before Temple would hit its first shot in over two minutes with 7:23 remaining on the clock. The Cougar freshman got valuable playing time, as all three checked into the game and combined for eight points in the final two minutes of regulation to help the squad secure its third straight win.
Tulane 64, Tulsa 47
The Tulane University women's basketball team won its fifth straight game as it defeated Tulsa, 64-47, today at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. Tulane head coach Lisa Stockton now has 598 wins in her career.
Tulane (13-5, 9-4) outshot Tulsa (5-8, 4-8) .381-.295 from the field and .286-.211 from three. The Green Wave outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 53-34 and logged 14 assists and four blocks. The Olive and Blue outscored Tulsa 35-16 from the bench on the day.
"I'm just glad to get out of here with a win," Stockton said. "I was happy we got to get some other people on the court. Everybody playing was good for us."
Sophomore Salma Bates logged the first double-double of her career with 15 points and 10 rebounds, both of which were career highs. She also shot 7-9 from the field and logged a team-high six assists. Senior Kaila Anderson added a season-high 11 points. This was the first time Anderson scored in double digits since the 2018-19 season. Senior Krystal Freeman narrowly missed recording a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds for the Green Wave.
Both teams started the game slow with Tulane taking a slight advantage at 16-14 headed into the second quarter. The Green Wave then outscored Tulsa 16-6 in the first six minutes of the second quarter to take control and a 32-20 lead. Bates led the run with six points and one assist. Tulsa closed the half on a 5-0 run to make it 32-25 headed into halftime.
In the first half, Bates led the Olive and Blue with six points, while Freeman was the leader on the boards with six. Bates tied her career-high with five rebounds in the opening half. Tulane out-rebounded Tulsa 25-18 in the opening 20 minutes. The Green Wave also outshot the Golden Hurricane .375-.313 in the first half.
Tulane opened the second half by outscoring Tulsa 10-4 in the first five minutes to take a 42-29 lead. Junior Mia Heide led the charge with four points for Tulane. The Green Wave stepped up on the defensive end only allowing Tulsa to score a total of six points in the third quarter. Anderson led Tulane by scoring six of its 15 points in the third. The Olive and Blue took a 47-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Bates grabbed her tenth rebound of the game to secure her first career double-double. The Green Wave maintained control throughout the fourth quarter to solidify the 64-47 win.
Cincinnati 73, Memphis 62
IImar'I Thomas scored 23 points and handed out a career-high seven assists and Caitlyn Wilson scored 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers for the second consecutive game, as Cincinnati (4-12, 3-9 American) ended a five-game losing streak with a 73-62 win at Memphis on Wednesday.
Thomas recorded her 12th 20-point game of the season and, with the effort, becomes only the third player in program history to achieve at least 1,700 points and 800 rebounds. She joins former Bearcat greats Linda Norwell (1,799 points and 1,309 rebounds from 1974-77) and Bev Obringer (1,700 points and 977 rebounds from 1985-89).
Wilson continued her hot shooting from beyond the arc, making 17 triples in the past three games since moving into the starting lineup.
Jilian Hayes added eight points, four assists and three blocks while Arame Niang contributed seven points, seven rebounds and four steals.
Dulcy Mendjiadeu Fankam led Memphis (4-9, 2-6) with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
UC fell behind by as many as 12 points midway through the second quarter and trailed 49-38 on a three-point play by Memphis' Coriah Beck with 6:28 left in the third quarter.
But the momentum soon turned in favor of the Bearcats.
UC the finished the final 3:45 of the third quarter on a 13-4 run then scored the first 12 points of the fourth period to grab a 67-56 advantage with 6:45 left.
The Bearcats turned up the defense after halftime, forcing 16 second-half turnovers by the Tigers. By game's end, UC had converted 20 Memphis miscues into 30 points.
UC shot a season-best 49.0 percent from the field, including 42.9 percent from 3-point range, making a season-high nine threes. The Bearcats also handed out a season-high 20 assists on 26 made baskets.