University of Houston
-127, 43 CUSA
SMU
-137, 61 CUSA
Last Second Shot Sinks Women's Basketball Against SMU
1/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2009
DALLAS - A three-pointer by Brittany Gilliam with just five seconds remaining spoiled the upset bid by the University of Houston women's basketball team Thursday night as the Cougars fell to Conference USA co-leader SMU 59-56 at Moody Coliseum.
Houston falls to 12-7 on the year and 4-3 in C-USA play, while SMU (13-7) remains in a tie with Southern Miss on top of the conference standings with a 6-1 league mark.
The Cougars did not get off to the start they hoped in the road environment, misfiring on eight of their first nine shots from the floor to allow the Mustangs to jump out to an early 10-2 advantage.
SMU's first half lead reached as many 12 at the 10:30 mark, but the Cougars got a spark off the bench from sophomore center Cobilyn Hill. The Houston native entered the game with 7:08 to play in the period and responded by making 5-of-8 field goals to lead all scorers at the intermission with 10 points.
Hill finished the game with a season-high 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting and tied fellow sophomore Courtney Taylor for the team lead in rebounding with eight. Taylor scored 12 points on the night while freshman Roxana Button contributed 11.
Led by the Hill the Cougars cut their first half deficit to just five points on several occasions, but their poor shooting half left them down 31-26 at the intermission. UH shot just 29.7 percent during the first half.
By comparison, SMU was proficient on its home court in the opening 20 minutes, making 14-of-34 shots for a 41.2 team shooting percentage.
During the opening minutes of the second period, which saw four ties and eight lead changes, a quick pair of buckets left the Cougars down only one, 31-30, but SMU remained ahead until an old-fashion three-point play by UH's Ashlee Joseph tied the game at 37-37. A lay-up by Taylor just over a minute later gave the Cougars their first lead of the night.
The two teams went back-and-forth for the next few minutes until UH found itself down two, 48-46, on a three-pointer by SMU's Jillian Samuels, but a 8-2 run by the Cougars left them in control and leading by four, 54-50, with 4:32 remaining.
With 3:06 left to play the Cougars went up five, 56-51, on a lay-up by Brittany Mason, but the bucket would be the last of the night for UH as it was outscored 8-0 down the stretch.
The Cougars continue their three-game road swing Saturday, with game two of the trip against Tulsa at 2 p.m.
