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Mason and Taylor Power Women's Basketball Past Rice, 72-53
Feb. 4, 2010
HOUSTON - A dominant performance in the second half spearheaded by junior forwards Lesslee Mason and Courtney Taylor lifted the University of Houston women's basketball team to a 72-53 victory over crosstown rival Rice on Thursday at Tudor Fieldhouse. The win moves the Cougars back over the .500 mark for the season at 11-10 and improves their mark in Conference USA affairs to 5-3. Rice, meanwhile, drops to 10-11 overall and 4-4 in league play. Thursday's game marked the first time this season that both members of the Houston starting front court produced a double-double in the same game. Taylor led all scorers with 20 points, 18 of which came in the second half, on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with 14 rebounds. Mason, meanwhile, contributed a game-high 15 rebounds with 14 points as she went 7-of-13 from the field. For Taylor, the double-double performance was her 10th of the season and the 35th of her career, pulling her even with UH's career double-double leader Sancho Lyttle, who tallied 35 for the Cougars from 2003-05. Mason's performance was her fifth of the season and first since Jan. 15 against East Carolina. Also appearing in the list of Houston individual standouts was junior guard Brittney Scott, who contributed 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists, one steal and a career-high three blocks. Guards Roxana Button and Megan Morton both chipped in off the Cougar bench with nine and eight points, respectively, for the road team. Houston shot 41 percent (25-of-61) for the game. In the game's opening minutes it was the home-standing Owls that surged ahead, capping a 12-4 run to start the game with a 3-pointer by Tara Watts at the 15:27 mark. Houston weathered the initial Rice charge and used a run of their own to take the lead for the first time, outscoring the Owls 17-4 over the next 6:51 to go ahead 21-16 with 7:45 to play. The two teams traded punches for the remainder of the half and went to the intermission deadlocked at 27-27. After halftime, the Cougars retook the floor and quickly captured all of the game's momentum. Houston scored 12 of the second half's first 13 points to open an 11-point advantage on a jumper by Taylor with 15:01 to play. The surged seamed to subdue the Owls, who were only able to get the UH lead below double-digits briefly on one occasion. The Cougar lead swelled to 18 after a pair of successful Megan Morton free throws with 4:48 to play, which would be the biggest UH lead of the night until the final points of the game came from Button. The sophomore form Coppell, Texas, sank a running jumper to make it 72-53 with just 31 seconds to play. For the game, Houston held an impressive 32-10 advantage for points in the paint and outrebounded Rice by the count of 58-42, a season-high differential of 16. Hoops for the Cure - Sunday Feb. 7 vs. Memphis At the Memphis game, fans that feel compelled will have the opportunity to donate to The Rose, a non-profit breast cancer organization. For more information on The Rose please visit their website at www.therose.org. All across the country, women's basketball teams are joining together to help fight against cancer as part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association' s Pink Zone initiative, which is aimed at raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond. For more information on the WBCA's Pink Zone visit www.wbca.org/pinkzone.asp. The events planned for the day include recognition of cancer survivors as well as halftime entertainment presented by the Highflyers, a jump rope performing group. The first 200 fans inside Hofheinz Pavilion will receive a free pink t-shirt which they can wear in support the Cougars, who will wear pink shooting shirts during pregame warm ups and pink apparel during the contest.
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