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Women's Basketball Falls 78-73 To UCF On The Road
Feb. 9, 2007
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ORLANDO, Fla. - A second-half span of 5:23 without a basket handed the University of Houston women's basketball team its third-straight defeat, a 78-73 loss to UCF, in Conference USA action Friday at UCF Arena. The Cougars (7-14, 4-7 C-USA), winless in 10 games on the road this season, had overcome a 31-26 halftime deficit with a 20-8 run over the first eight minutes of the second half. UCF (8-16, 3-8 C-USA) withstood the UH onslaught and came back with a 9-2 run of its own to lead 48-47 with 10:29 remaining. Following a layup by Sunshine Misa-Uli (Honolulu, Hawai'i/Farrington HS/Barton County CC) with 9:10 left, that pulled UH within three, the Cougars would not score again until Alona Obaze (Dallas, Texas/Bryan Adams HS/Trinity Valley CC) knocked down a three pointer with 3:43 left. During that five-plus minute time period, UH was outscored 16-0 and trailed 63-49 with 4:33 remaining. The Cougars pulled it to within single digits after Tye Jackson (Houston, Texas/Westfield HS/Purdue) converted a four-point play with 3:07 left. After the teams traded buckets over the next few possessions, Jackson knocked down a jumper with 1:26 left to pull the Cougars within seven at 69-52. That was as close as UH would get until the final five seconds of the game as UCF held on thanks to some late free-throw shooting. The Golden Knights, who entered the evening shooting around 60 percent from the stripe, were 11-12 from the charity stripe in final 1:11 of the game, negating UH's comeback effort.
Jackson ended the night with 30, leading all players and earning her fifth-career 30-point game. Misa-Uli and Whitney James (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Memorial HS/North Oklahoma College) each finished with 12, adding eight and nine rebounds, respectively. The Cougars trailed 31-26 at the break after giving up an eight-point lead midway through the first half. With the score at 14-8 Houston with 10:43 remaining, the Cougars were outscored by a 23-12 margin for the rest of the half. The teams combined for 24 turnovers and failed to connect on eight combined three-point attempts. Keunta Miles led five UCF players in double figures with 17. Jackie Akers added 13, Celeste Hudson poured in 12 and Shante Cummings and Kristin Thomas each finished with 10. Thomes also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds. Houston continues a season-long four-game road trip against Southern Miss Sunday at 2 p.m. CST. |
