University of Houston Athletics
Houston Faces Tulane in American Championship First Round
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
| HOUSTON (6-23, 1-17 AMERICAN) vs. TULANE (20-9, 11-7 AMERICAN) | |
|---|---|
| Tickets | Ticketmaster |
| Tournament Central | TheAmerican.org |
| Date/Time | Friday • 7 pm CT |
| Location | Mohegan Sun Arena • Uncasville, Conn. |
| Live Video | ESPN3 John Brickley, PxP Katie Smith, Analyst |
| Live Audio | UHCougars.com Jeremy Branham, PxP |
| Live Stats | TheAmerican.org |
| Series History | Tulane leads, 23-13 |
| Game Notes | • Houston Notes • Tulane Notes • The American Notes |
| Social Media |   |
HOUSTON - The University of Houston women's basketball team begins postseason play on Friday evening when they face Tulane in the first round of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm CT at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn.
Live video coverage of the game is available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. John Brickley and Katie Smith will share broadcast duties.
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.
The Cougars have sold out of their ticket allotment for the 2015 American Championship, but fans wishing to attend the event can still purchase tickets online at ticketmaster.com or by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Single-game and all-session passes are available.
For complete coverage of the 2015 American Championship, including live scoring, on-site video coverage, updated tournament brackets and more, fans and media are encouraged to visit The American's Championship Central page.
Houston is the No. 11 seed and finished the regular season with a 6-23 (1-17 American) record. The Cougars fell to Temple, 56-45, on March 2 in their regular season finale. Jessieka Palmer led the Cougars with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Tulane is the No. 6 seed in their first American Championship appearance. The Green Wave (20-9, 11-7 American) have lost two straight, including a 55-52 setback at Tulsa in their regular season finale, on Feb. 28.
The Green Wave are 23-13 all-time against Houston. Tulane won the first meeting between the teams this season, 70-40, on Dec. 30 in New Orleans. They made the return trip to Houston on Jan. 27 and took home a 63-46 victory.
The winner of Friday's game will face No. 3 seed Tulsa on Saturday at 7 pm CT in the quarterfinals.
 | LAST TIME OUT |
MARCH 2 • TEMPLE 56, HOUSTON 45 | Final Stats | Photo Gallery The Cougars led throughout the first half but could not overcome Temple in a 56-45 loss to close the regular season.
Houston honored seniors Terran Alford and Demetria Foreman before their final home game. Foreman missed the game with an injury, while Alford scored two points and pulled down three rebounds in her final home appearance.
Palmer was Houston's top performer, with 16 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was her third of the season, and Tyler Gilbert also had 11 rebounds.
Houston outrebounded Temple, 42-40, and grabbed a season-high 18 offensive boards.
The game featured three ties and three lead changes. The Cougars were ahead for much of the first half, losing the lead for the last time with 9:40 left in the opening stanza.
| PALMER NAMED TO AMERICAN HONOR ROLL |
Palmer was named to the American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Weekly Honor Roll on Tuesday. The weekly honor is the second of the season for the La Marque native.
Palmer averaged 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last week to close the regular season. On Feb. 24 against UCF, the junior native scored nine points and dished a pair of assists. She followed that with one of her best performances of the season on March 2 against Temple, a 16-point, 11-rebound explosion.
The double-double was the third of the season for Palmer. For the year, she leads the Cougars with 9.7 points per game.
Palmer was also named to the American Honor Roll on Nov. 24 after scoring 20 points in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
| GILBERT CONTINUES STRONG JUNIOR CAMPAIGN |
Gilbert closed the regular season with another strong performance in a season filled with quality efforts. The junior tallied nine points, 11 rebounds and two blocks against the Owls and is averaging career highs of 7.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game this season.
The Missouri City native has led the Cougars in at least one major category in six straight games. She paced Houston in rebounding against Memphis on Feb. 11, No. 1/1 UConn on Feb. 17, SMU on Feb. 21, UCF on Feb. 24, and Temple on March 2. Gilbert was the team's leading scorer on Feb. 14 at Temple and again in the SMU game.
Gilbert's 61 blocks rank seventh on Houston's single-season leaderboard, and she is one of just nine Cougars to swat 80 or more shots in her career.
| SERIES HISTORY vs. TULANE |
Tulane is 23-13 all-time against the Cougars, with victories in five of the last six meetings after Houston won six straight contests from 2009-11.
The Green Wave won the first meeting this season, 70-40, on Dec. 30 in New Orleans in the second game of the American schedule. Marche' Amerson led Houston on a tough offensive night with nine points, while Gilbert hauled in 10 rebounds. Tulane was led by 14 points from sharpshooter Danielle Blagg. | Final Stats
The second matchup of 2014-15 also went to Tulane, 63-46, on Jan. 27 at Hofheinz Pavilion. Gilbert led the Cougars with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Smith also scored 13 points. Blagg was again Tulane's top scorer, with 15 points, and Kolby Morgan chipped in 13. | Final Stats
| SCOUTING THE GREEN WAVE |
Tulane is 20-9 overall, with an 11-7 American Athletic Conference record. The Green Wave slid to the No. 6 seed after dropping their last two games, including a 55-52 setback at Tulsa on Feb. 28 in their regular season finale. | Final Stats
Morgan has been Tulane's top scorer, at 12.4 points per game. The mark is second-best in The American among freshmen.
Chinwe Duru led Tulane with 15 points in the Tulsa loss, while Tiffany Dale added 10 points and 15 rebounds.
For the season, Dale grabs a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game, while Jamie Kaplan leads The American with a 4.7 assist average.
| HOUSTON'S CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY |
Houston is 22-32 all-time in conference tournament games. The total includes an 11-15 mark in the Southwest Conference Tournament, 10-16 in the Conference USA Tournament and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference Championship.
The Cougars earned their lone conference tournament title in 2004, when they won the Conference USA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. Houston defeated Cincinnati in the opening round, 84-67, took down Marquette in the semifinals, 67-59, and downed host TCU in the title game, 86-75. Chandi Jones was named Tournament Most Valuable Player.
Houston won their American Championship debut, 73-67, on March 7, 2014. Amerson scored a career high with 24 points, while Bianca Winslow came off the bench to score 10 points.
The Cougars were eliminated one day later by Louisville, 88-43. Palmer scored a team-high 13 points.
| HUGHEY IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS |
Houston's Ronald Hughey is in his first season leading the Cougars and his first postseason tournament as head coach. The veteran of six NCAA Tournament appearances as an assistant does have an impressive history in conference postseason events. As an assistant with UCF in 2009, Hughey helped lead the Knights to the Conference USA Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
| 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 61 shots this season, the seventh-best one-year total in UH history. She is just two rejections behind Cobilyn Hill (2008-09) and Monica Lamb (1983-84) for the fifth position.
The junior now has 80 career blocks, 13 behind Lesslee Mason (2009-11) for eighth all-time in Houston history.
Amerson has started 89 games, which ranks eighth in Houston history. She will match Angela Curl (1998-03) for seventh in the UH record books with two more starts. The junior also has 74 career 3-pointers and needs just two more to catch Felecia Comeaux (1994-96) and Tanda Rucker (1994-96) for 10th place.
Mariah 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 seventh in UH freshman history in 3-point field goal percentage (30.3 percent) and eighth in free throw percentage (68.7 percent).
| COUGARS IN THE AMERICAN RANKINGS |
Three Cougars continue to rank among the top statistical performers in The American through games played on March 2.
Palmer is Houston's leading scorer and ranks 29th in The American with 9.7 points per game. After her 11-rebound effort against Temple, the junior is listed 26th in the league with 4.9 boards per game.
Gilbert ranks fifth in The American with 2.1 blocks per game and 17th in the league with a 6.1 rebound average. The junior forward has spent the majority of the season ranked among the NCAA's top-50 in blocks, and she's currently listed 59th.
Smith is ranked among the league's top point guards in multiple categories. She is listed 10th in assists, with 3.2 per game, and ninth with a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
| JOIN THE CLUB |
Several Cougars have joined exclusive lists with their statistical efforts this season.
Smith made her 100th career 3-point field goal in the Tulane game on Jan. 27. She is the seventh Cougar to reach the milestone.
Gilbert crossed a pair of important block thresholds in the Temple game on March 2. The junior became just the fourth Cougar to block 60 shots in a season and the ninth to swat 80 in a career against the Owls.
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.
| 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.
| 2014-15 AWARDS TALLY |
Three Cougars have already earned spots on the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll this season. Palmer earned the distinction for the second time on Tuesday after her double-double against Temple. She was also an Honor Roll selection on Nov. 24 after scoring 20 points in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Gilbert received the honor, on Jan. 19, after pulling in 13 rebounds vs. Tulsa, 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 |
- Houston's last victory over Tulane came on Feb. 17, 2013, a 71-70 double overtime triumph in New Orleans. Amerson led current Cougars with 15 points in the win.
- Smith leads the current roster with 12.0 points per game in her career against Tulane. As a freshman, Smith scored 23 against the Green Wave on Feb. 2, 2013.
- Amerson averages a team-best 15.0 points per game in her conference tournament career.
| UP NEXT FOR THE COUGARS |
While the loser of Friday's game is eliminated from the American Championship, the winner will move on to face No. 3 seed Tulsa in the quarterfinals. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm CT on Saturday, and live video coverage is once again available on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
| 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 .
