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Women's Basketball Comes Up Short Against No. 1 Tulane
March 2, 2007
Box Score in PDF Format
TULSA, Okla. - The University of Houston women's basketball nearly overcame a 13-point second-half deficit, but came up short, falling 62-55 to top-seeded Tulane Friday, in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship, presented by Aèropostale at the Reynolds Center. Four critical turnovers late in the game by Houston (9-19) let Tulane (25-5) off the hook as the Green Wave moved on to the championship semifinals. The Cougars converted only one field goal on their final seven possessions and Tulane had the seven-point win that was much closer than it appeared. Houston has fallen out in the quarterfinals of the league tournament for the second-straight season after previously being 4-0 in that round of play. Down 10, 55-45, with 6:34 to go UH pulled off an 8-0, 2:26 run that pulled the Cougars within two, 55-53, with 3:54 to go. Most impressively, the Cougars pulled off the run with star guard Tye Jackson (Houston, Texas/Westfield HS/Purdue) on the bench. Jackson fouled out with 7:32 remaining, finishing with 17 points five rebounds, four assists and three steals. After trailing by 13, 44-31, thanks to an 11-4 Tulane run in the first 4:30 of the second half, Houston kept the margin between 8-12 points most of the way, setting up the late furious rally. UH struggled to hang on to the ball all game, giving it up 20 times, which was converted into 19 points by Tulane. Whitney James (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Memorial HS/North Oklahoma College) shouldered the offensive role with Jackson out for the final seven minutes of the game. James, a forward, was pressed into duty at point guard and responded with 17 points, tying Jackson for the game high.
D'Aundra Henry led three Tulane players in double figures with 13. Spring, Texas, native Megan Valicevic added 11 and Jami Montagnino knocked in 10, despite shooting 2-13 and 1-8 from behind the line. Houston was in an eight-point halftime hole after trailing by as many as 11 with almost nine minutes left. After turning the ball over just 12 times Thursday against Marshall, Houston gave it up 10 times in the first half against the Wave with Tulane converting those giveaways into 14 points. Tulane got some strong play from its bench in the first half as the reserves tallied 20 of the team's 33 first-half points. The Cougars 9-19 mark this season is their worst in a season since UH's 7-21 record following the 1999-2000 campaign. |
