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Texas Tech Slips Past Women's Basketball in WNIT First Round
March 18, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas - Despite an inspired team performance and a game-high 29 points from junior guard Brittney Scott, the University of Houston women's basketball team could not overcome Texas Tech in the opening round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament Thursday, falling to the Lady Raiders 80-77 in front of a vocal crowd at the United Spirit Arena. The 29 points from Scott bring her career scoring total at UH to 1,015 making her the 20th player in program history to reach the prestigious 1,000 point club. Both Scott and fellow 1,000 point club member Courtney Taylor will return next season to give the Cougars an experience and potent 1-2 offensive punch. Houston concludes the regular season with a 17-15 overall record and reached the postseason for the eighth time in school history and fifth under the direction of head coach Joe Curl. Curl, however was unable to watch his team take the court in Thursday's WNIT contest as he spent a second straight night in a Lubbock area hospital after experiencing chest pains. Scott, who scored at least 25 points for the eighth time this season, made 9-of-19 field goals on the night and converted 7-of-8 attempts from the free throw line. Sophomore Roxana Button scored 11 points off the Houston bench while senior Ashlee' Joseph, playing in her final game as a Cougar, rounded out the UH players in double-figures with 10 points. For the game, Houston shot 45.5 percent while the Lady Raiders made 20-of-55 field goal attempts for a shooting percentage of 36.5. The biggest discrepancy between the two teams came from the free throw line, where Tech went 36-of-47 and the Cougars attempted just 14 shots, making 10. Both the 36 made free throws and 47 free throw attempts are season highs for a Houston opponent. During the first half, it was the Cougars who were the aggressor, scoring the first seven points of the ballgame. Houston was able to force the Lady Raiders into several poor shooting situations, as Tech converted just two of its first 11 shots.. Button made it a double-digit Cougar advantage when she nailed a jumper at the 14:08 mark to bring the score to 13-3 Houston. The visitors' lead swelled to as many as 16 in the first half twice, the first on a jumper by Joseph with 6:12 to play, and again at the 5:35 mark when junior Jasmine Johnson knocked down a shot to make the score 34-18. The Lady Raiders, however, battled back from the early deficit to close the first half on an 11-3 run that sent the Cougars to the locker room with an eight-point advantage at 37-29. During the opening 20 minutes, Tech was held to a 28.6 shooting percentage (8-of-28), while the Cougars made 16-of-31 shot attempts for a 51.6 shooting percentage. After the intermission, Tech claimed 20 of the second half's first 31 points to take its first lead of the contest on a jumper by Ashlee Roberson with 12:13 to play. The surge by the Lady Raiders continued as they took their biggest lead of the contest at 61-52 on a pair of free throws by Tilmila Martin at the 7:25 mark. The home lead again reached nine at 63-54 with 6:16 to play. With the Cougars down 68-64, Scott was fouled and after complaints by a Lady Raider resulted in a technical foul, the Houston junior from Orange, Texas, stepped to the line, where she made four consecutive free throws to knot the score at 68-68 with 1:17 to play, Scott, who scored the Cougars' final 13 points, nailed a trio of 3-pointers during the game's final 30 seconds, the last of which left Houston down just one at 78-77 with seven seconds to play. The Cougars could not complete the comeback as Tech converted a pair of free throws at the other end to seal the win. Despite the loss, Houston is in a position to return all but one letterwinner from this year's team. The Cougars can look forward to the return of 11 players for the 2010-11 season, a figure that represents 97.4 percent of the team's offensive production from this season.
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