Nov. 22, 2005

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Despite holding Middle Tennessee State to a 36.4 percent shooting night, the University of Houston women's basketball team could not overcome shooting woes of its own and fell, 62-35, to the Blue Raiders at the Murphy Center Tuesday.

UH (1-2) lost its second-straight road contest while MTSU (1-1) snapped a two-game losing streak against the Cougars. The Cougars 35 points is the lowest single-game output in the program's 35-year history and only the second time the school has failed to score 40 or more points in a game. The previous occurred in a 98-37 loss to Baylor during the 1975-75 campaign.

UH committed a season-high 29 turnovers and had just seven assists. The Cougars did not make a three-point shot (0 for 12) and made only 12 field goals, with just four coming the second 20 minutes.

Sha'Ratta Hawkins (Houston, Texas/Jesse Jones HS) found double figures for the third-straight game, leading UH with 10 points. Emily Fryters (Adelaide, SA, Australia/Concordia College) tied a career-high with eight rebounds, which was also a game high, while Ryan Meyers (Arlington, Texas/Arlington HS/Grayson County CC) finished with a career-best four steals.

MTSU led from the opening tipoff and was able to overcome a .364 (24 for 66) effort from the floor, including a 1 for 19 night from behind the arc. The Blue Raiders committed 19 turnovers but also had 16 steals.

Trailing 29-19 at the break, UH made a pair of buckets in the first two minutes and cut the lead to 10 at 33-23 with 18:19 left. The teams played tight for the next eight minutes with UH down 16 before a jumper from Shannon Steele (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King HS) pulled it to within 14 at 43-29.

The Cougars would not drain another field goal until Hawkins drained a jumper at the 2:40 mark, a span of 8:40 without a bucket. During that time, UH was outscored 16-5 and the Blue Raiders lead was 25 at 59-34.

The Blue Raiders were led by Krystle Horton and Tia Stovall who had 13 points apiece. Monique Martin added 11 points and Chrissy Givens added a career-high six steals.

The Cougars have eight days off before playing their next game. UH continues a season-long four game road trip at Creighton on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. CST.