University of Houston Athletics
Houston Hosts Temple to Close Regular Season
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| HOUSTON (6-22, 1-16 AMERICAN) vs. TEMPLE (15-15, 11-6 AMERICAN) | |
|---|---|
| Tickets | BUY Tickets • Tickets Info |
| Questions? | Fan Guide |
| Date/Time | Monday • 7 pm CT |
| Location | Hofheinz Pavilion • Houston, Texas |
| Live Video | American Digital Network |
| Live Audio | UHCougars.com Jeremy Branham, PxP |
| Live Stats | |
| Series History | Temple leads, 3-0 |
| Game Notes | • Houston Notes • Temple Notes • The American Notes |
| Social Media |   |
HOUSTON - The University of Houston women's basketball team will finish the 2014-15 regular season on Monday evening, when they host Temple University. Tipoff at Hofheinz Pavilion is scheduled for 7 pm CT, and tickets are available. The game is presented by the Hilton Houston Plaza/Medical Center. | TICKETS
Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:45 pm on Monday, as the Cougars will honor seniors Terran Alford and Demetria Foreman prior to their final home game. The Cougar pep band will feature over 70 members on Monday night, and Houston fans from Elmcroft Senior Living and YES Prep School will be in attendance as UH sends their seniors out in style.
After the first contest was a hit with Cougar fans, UH ran their Honorary Coach promotion in the week leading up to the Temple game. Cougar fan Nolan Capra was selected as the lucky winner and will join Head Coach Ronald Hughey's staff for the game. H-Day winner Gail Gillan and UH supporter Woodrow Lee will also serve as guest coaches.
A live video broadcast of the game will be streamed by the American Digital Network. Also, a free live audio broadcast is available through Houston's Stretch Internet Portal, with Jeremy Branham on the play-by-play call. Live Twitter updates can be accessed throughout the game by following the official UH women's basketball account, @UHCougarWBB.
Houston enters the contest with a 6-22 record, 1-16 in the American Athletic Conference, after a 59-38 loss to UCF on Feb. 24. Mariah Mitchell paced Houston with 12 points in the loss.
Temple is 15-15 (11-6 American) after a 79-69 victory over East Carolina on Feb. 28. Four Owls scored in double-figures, led by Erica Covile, who knocked down a dozen free throws and scored 22 points.
The Owls are 3-0 all-time against Houston, with all three meetings occurring in the last two seasons. Temple won the last matchup, 72-60, on Feb. 14 in Philadelphia. Mitchell and Tyler Gilbert paced Houston with 13 points each, while the Owls earned the win after hitting 7-of-12 3-point attempts.
With a victory against Temple and an SMU loss to Memphis, the Cougars would be the No. 10 seed at the American Championship. With a loss or an SMU win, Houston will be the No. 11 seed.
 | LAST TIME OUT |
FEBRUARY 24 • UCF 59, HOUSTON 38 | Final Stats Houston struggled on the offensive end and fell to UCF in their final road game of the season, 59-38.
Mitchell had the strongest offensive effort for the Cougars, scoring a team-high 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting. Showing great poise, the freshman has led Houston in scoring in their last three road games.
Marche' Amerson came off the bench for the first time in her career and was still a major factor, scoring 11 points in a team-best 33 minutes on the court.
Gilbert matched a Houston season high with six offensive rebounds and led the Cougars with eight rebounds overall. The junior has been the top Cougar on the glass in three straight games.
The Cougars pulled in 13 offensive rebounds, finishing just four boards short of a season high.
| GILBERT CONTINUES STRONG JUNIOR CAMPAIGN |
Gilbert continues to put up strong efforts for the Cougars in her third season. The junior is averaging career highs of 7.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game this season.
The Missouri City native has led the Cougars in at least one major category in five straight games. She paced Houston in rebounding against Memphis on Feb. 11, No. 1/1 UConn on Feb. 17, SMU on Feb. 21 and UCF on Feb. 24. Gilbert was the team's leading scorer on Feb. 14 at Temple and again in the SMU game.
Gilbert's 59 blocks rank seventh on Houston's single-season leaderboard.
| MITCHELL EMERGES AS GO-TO SCORER |
Mitchell has been Houston's top performer as the 2014-15 season has reach its final stages. The freshman has led the Cougars in scoring in three of their last four games and is averaging 9.3 points over that stretch.
For the season, Mitchell is averaging 6.4 points per game overall and 7.6 points in American play. The McKinney native has raised her scoring average by more than two points per game since the start of league action.
Mitchell has hit 23 3-pointers, ranking second on the team. She also ranks second on the club with 46 free throws and is shooting 91.7 percent from the line in her last four games.
| ALFORD, FOREMAN PLAY FINAL HOME GAME |
Seniors Alford and Foreman will play at home for the final time on Monday night.
A four-year letter winner, Alford was quick to make an impact on the Houston team, as she tied a program record in only her fourth career game, with 20 rebounds on Nov. 22, 2011. Alford led all Conference USA freshmen in blocked shots in her first season, and she was named conference Freshman of the Week on Jan. 30, 2012 after scoring 10 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting in a win over Rice.
The Oklahoma City, Okla., native battled injuries in her sophomore and junior seasons but has returned in full force the year, playing in 24 games. She matched career highs with three steals and three blocks against Incarnate Word on Nov. 17, and she has served as a valuable post presence all season long. For her career, Alford has tallied 206 career points, 277 rebounds and 36 blocked shots.
Foreman came to Houston prior to the 2013-14 season. She immediately took over as one of Houston's top guards upon arriving on campus, and she started 23 games at the point guard spot a season ago. The Irving native averaged 6.2 points and a team-best 2.5 assists per game in her first season with UH and led the team in scoring four times. Foreman's best performance came on Dec. 20, 2013, when she scored 20 points in a victory over crosstown rival Rice.
This season, Foreman has been a big contributor on both ends of the floor, including defensively, as she recorded an amazing seven steals on Jan. 27 in a game against Tulane. For her career, Foreman has scored 178 points and dished 76 assists.
| COUGARS CLIMB PROGRAM RECORD BOOKS |
Three juniors and a freshman are steadily writing their names into the Houston basketball record books.
Guard Alecia Smith ranks seventh in UH history with 110 career 3-pointers after hitting multiple three-balls in 10 different games this season. She is chasing Roxana Button (2008-12), who knocked down 125 3-pointers in her career.
Gilbert has swatted 59 shots this season, the seventh-best one-year total in UH history. She is just four rejections behind Cobilyn Hill (2008-09) and Monica Lamb (1983-84) for the fifth position.
The junior now has 78 career blocks, 15 behind Lesslee Mason (2009-11) for eighth all-time in Houston history.
Amerson has started 88 games, which ranks ninth in Houston history. She will match Darla Simpson (1988-92) for eighth in the UH record books with her next starting nod.
Mitchell has hit 23 3-pointers this season, which ranks 10th in UH history among freshmen. She will match Amerson (2012-13) for ninth with one more outside shot. The rookie also ranks fifth in UH freshman history in 3-point field goal percentage (31.9 percent) and sixth in free throw percentage (70.8 percent).
| DEVELOPMENT FACILITY WEBCAM GOES LIVE |
Watch
The Cougars will have a new Basketball Development Facility to call home in 2015-16, and fans can now watch the construction of the facility live, 24 hours a day. To view progress of the construction, fans can click on uh.edu/infotech/services/webcam/.
Designed by DLR Group and Page, the new Development Center is located adjacent to Hofheinz Pavilion at the corner of Cullen Boulevard and Holman Street on the UH campus. Construction on the $25 million facility is expected to be completed by August 2015
The 53,000 square-foot facility will provide the environment that the Houston Men's and Women's Basketball student-athletes need to excel throughout the season in all areas. The first level will house a dedicated practice court for each team as well as sports performance and sports medicine areas, which will be used by both programs.
The second level will feature the teams' areas, which include locker rooms and academic/film theaters. The team rooms contain spacious, modern lockers, multiple video screens for television and comfortable furniture. The third level will hold office space for both Men's and Women's Basketball coaching and support staffs.
| COUGARS IN THE AMERICAN RANKINGS |
Three Cougars continue to rank among the top statistical performers in The American through games played on Feb. 28.
Jessieka Palmer paces the Houston attack and ranks 29th in The American in scoring, at 9.5 points per game. The junior is also listed 29th in the league with 4.8 rebounds per game.
Gilbert ranks fifth in The American, averaging 2.1 blocked shots per game. The junior paces Houston in rebounding and is listed 18th in the conference with 6.0 boards per game.
The junior shot-blocker has spent the majority of the season ranked among the NCAA's top-50 in blocks, and she's currently listed 56th.
Smith is ranked among the league's top point guards in multiple categories. She is listed sixth in assists, with 3.3 per game, and ninth with a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
| JOIN THE CLUB |
Two Cougars reached statistical milestones against Tulane on Jan. 27. Leading the way was Smith, who made her 100th career 3-point field goal in the game. She is the seventh Cougar to reach the milestone.
Gilbert tallied her 60th career block in the Tulane game. She is one of only 10 Cougars to record the feat. The junior became just the ninth Cougar to block 50 shots in a single season against East Carolina on Feb. 3.
Amerson topped the 800-point plateau for her career on Feb. 7 against Tulsa. The Bryan native is on pace to become Houston's 23rd 1,000-point scorer midway through the 2015-16 season.
| SERIES HISTORY vs. TEMPLE |
Temple is 3-0 all-time against the Cougars. All three of the meetings have come in the last two seasons, since the formation of the American Athletic Conference.
The Owls won an entertaining game in the first meeting between the clubs this season, a 72-60 victory on Feb. 14 in Philadelphia. Temple built their lead by scoring 46 first half points, thanks to seven 3-pointers and 69.2 percent shooting in the period. Still, Houston hung tough and shot 42.6 percent for the game. Mitchell and Gilbert led the Cougars with 13 points each, while Alliya Butts was 7-for-7 from the free throw line to score 22 for Temple. | Final Stats
| SCOUTING THE OWLS |
Temple (15-15, 11-6 American) could finish anywhere from third to sixth in the American standings based on the results of Monday's games. The Owls have won two straight contests, including a 79-69 victory over East Carolina on Feb. 28. | Final Stats
The Owls have lost eight of their 13 road games, though they are 4-4 on the road in American play.
Butts is one of five Temple players averaging double-figures in scoring, with a team-best 12.9 points per game. A native of Edgewater Park, N.J., the rookie leads all American freshmen in scoring.
One of the most balanced scoring teams in the country, Temple also has Covile (11.4 points per game), Feyonda Fitzgerald (10.9), Tanaya Atkinson (10.5), and Tyonna Williams (10.1) averaging over 10 points.
Covile is Temple's top rebounder, with 8.5 boards per game, while Williams averages a team-best 3.2 assists. Butts leads Temple and ranks third in The American with 2.0 steals per game.
| 2014-15 AWARDS TALLY |
Three Cougars have already earned spots on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll this season. Gilbert was the latest to receive the honor, on Jan. 19, after pulling in 13 rebounds vs. Tulsa.
Palmer was honored on Nov. 24 after scoring a career-high 20 points in the win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Mitchell took home the award on Dec. 22 after scoring 15 points in the Nicholls State victory.
Mitchell and Amerson were both honored with spots on the Athletes in Action All-Tournament Team for their play at the event. Both players averaged 8.0 points per game at the tournament, leading the Cougars to a 2-1 record.
| #CHASINGGREATNESS WITH THE COUGARS |
Three student-athletes have signed to join the Houston program next season.
Chyanne Butler, a native of Costa Mesa, Calif., transferred to Houston at the start of the spring 2015 semester and will play for the Cougars in 2015-16. The USC transfer averaged 17.0 points and 3.3 steals per game during her prep career. She was tabbed as the Class of 2014's 25th-ranked point guard by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Sharayla Brown is a 6-3 post player out of Tulsa, Okla., and East Central HS. She averaged 12.0 points per game as East Central advanced to the championship game of the 2014 OSSAA Class 5A State Tournament.
Serithia "MoMo" Hawkins is a 5-10 guard from Moore, Okla., and Southmoore HS. She is ranked as the 69th-best Class of 2015 guard by ESPN Hoopgurlz, and she is a 3-star prospect. Led by Hawkins, Southmoore upset the top-ranked team in the state of Oklahoma, Edmond Santa Fe, on Tuesday evening.
| QUICK HITS |
- Amerson, Smith and Palmer all scored nine points in the first meeting with Temple this season.
- Among Houston players with more than one appearance against Temple, Amerson leads the way with 12.7 points per game. The junior scored 20 points against the Owls on March 3, 2014 in Philadelphia.
- With 73 career 3-pointers, Amerson needs three more to join Houston's career top-10 list.
| UP NEXT FOR THE COUGARS |
Houston will compete in the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship, which runs from March 6-9 in Uncasville, Conn. Houston's first round game will begin at either 5 pm or 7 pm CT, with live coverage available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
Houston's opponent is yet to be determined, though they could face East Carolina, Temple, Tulane or Tulsa depending on Monday's American Athletic Conference results.
The Cougars won their first ever American Championship game last season, a 73-67 victory over Memphis.
| STAY CONNECTED |
Fans can receive daily information and in-game updates by following @UHCougarWBB on Twitter. Fans can also catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team's Facebook page at facebook.com/UHCougarWBB .
| STUDENTS - CHEER ON YOUR COUGARS! |
All UH main campus students are admitted FREE to regular season women's basketball home games with a valid student ID.
--UHCougars.com--
