Feb. 6, 2006

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

HOUSTON, Texas - Despite forcing Marshall into 24 turnovers, the University of Houston women's basketball team could not overcome a late second-half scoring drought and fell to the Thundering Herd, 57-50 in Conference USA action at Hofheinz Pavilion Monday.

After Tye Jackson (Houston, Texas/Westfield HS/Purdue) drained a pair of free throws with 1:50 left in the game to pull UH within one at 51-50, the Cougars (9-12, 6-4 C-USA) were held scoreless for the remainder of the game by a Marshall (11-10, 6-4 C-USA) squad that snapped a five-game losing streak.

The Cougars, who lead C-USA with a +3.70 turnover margin, were handcuffed by a .308 (20 for 65) shooting percentage. Houston had its worst outing from beyond the arc in four games, managing just four three's in 20 attempts. Jackson and Sha'Ratta Hawkins (Houston, Texas/Jesse Jones HS) each knocked down a pair of triples, but were a combined 4 for 18 from long range.

Down two at the break, a jumper by Nakazi Glover (Brookshire, Texas/Bellaire HS) tied the score at 27 apiece in the first 20 seconds of the second half. From there, neither team would escape by more than four points for the next 10 minutes.

A triple by Jackson with 9:36 left put UH up 44-42, but the offense went cold following that play and Marshall ran off nine-straight points over a four-minute span. A possible dagger came at the end of the run when Bridget Chacon banked a three-pointer from half court off the glass as the shot clock expired, moving Marshall's lead to seven, 51-44 with 4:41 left. A 6-0 UH run over the next 2:31 was closed out by Jackson's free throws and the Cougars would not score the rest of the game, going 0-8 in the final 1:16.

Jackson led all scorers with 20 points, her sixth time topping the 20-point plateau in 14 games. Hawkins finished with her second-career double-double, 14 points and 10 rebounds and Glover ended the night with 11 points.

Marshall turned the ball over 24 times for the second-straight game, tying a season high. Houston converted those turnovers into 16 points, but were badly outrebounded, 53-35. The Herd also dominated in the paint by a 16-6 margin. After turning the ball over a school-record low five times against Rice, Houston gave it up 14 times tonight with five of those turnovers coming in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The Herd was led by Modupe Ishola who tallied 16 points and 15 boards, with nine of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass. Nearly all of her points came off of close-in layups. Houston native Sikeetha Shepard-Hall finished with 17 points, nine of which came from the charity stripe, despite shooting at a 3 for 11 clip. KaShawna Curry tallied double-digit rebounds as well, grabbing 11.

Houston held an early seven-point advantage, leading 14-7 with 12:31 left in the opening stanza. Following a jumper by Jackson a little over two minutes later, UH maintained the seven-point lead at 18-11. The UH offense would go cold after that bucket, failing to score a field goal over a stretch of 7:41. During that span, the Herd outscored UH 14-1 and led by six 25-21 with 2:36 left in the half.

A jumper by Jackson at the 2:36 mark ended the drought and started a 6-0 Houston run that knotted it up at 25 apiece with 21 ticks on the clock. Marshall's Michelle Hagan knocked down a jumper as time expired to give Marshall a 27-25 lead heading into the locker room.

Marshall dominated the paint in the first half, tallying nearly half of its points (12 of 27) inside. The Herd held a decided 26-15 advantage on the boards with a 10-6 cushion on the offensive glass. Houston was able to take advantage of Marshall's 15 turnovers, turning them into 10 points.

Following a four-game swing of contests in the Houston-area, the Cougars are back on the road this weekend, facing contests at Tulane Friday and UTEP on Sunday. Tipoff in the Green Wave's Fogelman Arena is set for 7 p.m. CST Friday with Sunday's game against the Miners slotted for a 2 p.m. MST start.