University of Houston
0-1
Texas Tech
2-0
Women's Basketball Drops Opener To Texas Tech 69-51
11/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2006
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HOUSTON - Freshman Ryan Bradley (Houston, Texas/Madison HS) had a career-high 18 points on an 8-for-8 shooting night, but it was not enough as the University of Houston women's basketball team opened the 2006-07 season with a 69-51 loss to Texas Tech, Tuesday on Guy V. Lewis Court at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Bradley, playing in her first collegiate game, made all eight of her shot attempts, including two triples, to lead all players in scoring. She tied the school record for field goal percentage in a game and is only the second player in school history to achieve that milestone. Sonya Watkins was 13-for-13 in a game against SMU on March 5, 1985.
The Cougars (0-1) had a short bench with only seven players available for the game. The Lady Raiders (2-0) did its best to exploit the tired legs, converting 19 points off of 20 Houston turnovers and dominating in the paint, 22-8. It was Tech's 16th-straight win over Houston, dating back to 1990.
Behind the strong rebounding effort of Ryan Meyers (Arlington, Texas/Arlington HS/Grayson County CC), UH outrebounded Tech by a 41-39 margin, including a 12-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Meyers grabbed a game-high 16 boards, 13 on the defensive end, and finished the evening two off her career best of 18, set last year against Prairie View A&M.
Maya Onikute (Queens, N.Y./Park West HS/Barton County CC) also found double figures, knocking in 15 points, pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out five assists.
On the heels of a 12-point halftime cushion, Tech opened the second stanza with a 10-2 run to lead 47-32 with 14:16 left in the game. UH did it's best to chip away at the lead, and pulled off an 8-2 run over four minutes to trail by eight, 55-47, with 6:48 remaining.
The teams traded buckets over the next several minutes and the margin was again eight at 59-51 with 5:01 left. That was as close as UH would get for the rest of the night as UH missed its final seven shots of the evening and the Lady Raiders closed out the game on a 10-0 run, cruising to the 18-point win.
"I liked our fight," head coach Joe Curl said following the game. "I didn't like our execution and we were moving the ball a little too much one-on-one. There was more positive than negative tonight. We lost to the better team. They (Texas Tech) ran their motion well and they did what they do, penetrate and make you collapse."
Tech led 34-26 at the break, shooting nearly 60 percent (5-for-9/.556) from behind the three-point line. Houston struggled from the field, shooting just 37.5 percent (12-for-32). Baughman and Murphree each tallied eight points in the opening 20 minutes. Bradley led all players with 11 in the half.
The Lady Raiders opened on a 10-2 run in the first three minutes but Houston pulled it back within six, 11-5, at the 16:15 mark, but a 10-2 run by the visitors increased the margin to 14, 21-7, with 12:43 remaining. The Cougars whittled the lead down to eight at two points, but were not able to take advantage as cold shooting and eight first-half turnovers took the momentum away.
Tech was led by Alesha Robertson who finished with 13 points and 13 boards. Three other players found double figures as Brooke Baughman had 17, Jordan Murphree had 15 and Erin Myrick closed the night out with 10. Baughman was 5-for-6 from behind the arc, equaling Houston's output from distance for the entire game.
UH is on the road for its next two events, facing No. 6 Duke on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST in Durham, N.C., before heading to Fort Worth to take on TCU on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. The Duke game will be available for viewing online at www.ACCSelect.com. Free internet audio of all Houston games is accessible at www.UHCougars.com.
