University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
-1311, 74 CUSA
SMU
-168, 65 CUSA
Scott Leads Women's Basketball to Win over SMU
2/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2010
DALLAS - Paced by a game-high 25 points from junior guard Brittney Scott, the University of Houston women's basketball team earned a hard-fought 73-67 victory over SMU on Sunday at Moody Coliseum.
The Cougars who were led by fourth-year assistant coach Wade Scott following the hospitalization of head coach Joe Curl on Saturday evening after complaints of chest pains. Despite the distraction, Houston was able to avenge an earlier loss to the Mustangs this season and improve its overall record to 13-11, including a 7-4 mark in Conference USA play. SMU, meanwhile, fell to 16-8 and 6-5 in league action.
Scott's impressive performance was sparked by her impressive shooting afternoon, which saw her go 7-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-7 from 3-point range. She also made 6-of-7 attempts from the free throw line for UH which saw 18-of-21 from the charity stripe as a team.
Also reaching double-figure scoring for Houston were sophomore point guard Porsche Landry, who contributed 17 points, and junior forward Courtney Taylor, who chipped in with 12 points to go along with seven rebounds. Fellow junior Lesslee Mason also contributed 10 boards in the winning effort,
The contest did not get off to a favorable start for the Cougars who fell behind 17-4 in the opening six minutes of the contest. The lead swelled to as many as 15 on a 3-pointer by Jillian Samuels with 12:16 to play.
Houston fought back, using a 10-2 run over the next 3:08 to whittle the SMU lead down to seven on a Scott 3-pointer with 9:08 to play.
A steal by Jasmine Johnson and a lay-up by Taylor cut the SMU advantage to just a single point at 34-33 with just 2:01 to play in the half. The Mustangs push the lead back to four to take a 39-35 lead into the intermission.
After halftime the Cougars lurked just a couple points behind the Mustangs but could never pull ahead. That finally changed at the 7:40 mark of the ballgame, when a lay-up by Landry made it 57-56 Cougars for the visitors' first lead of the game.
After trading baskets Houston was again left with a one-point lead, this time at 59-58 with 6:35 to play, an advantage the Cougars would not relinquish. The Cougars pushed their lead to five at 69-64 with 1:51 to play, but the Mustangs would not fade, cutting the lead to a single basket at 69-67 with just 50 ticks left on the clock.
Four straight free throws by Landry secured the win for the Cougars to keep them in the hunt for the C-USA regular season title.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will continue their four-game road trip next weekend when they travel to face Southern Miss and UCF. The regular season will conclude with three straight games at Hofhienz Pavilion.
