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University of Houston Athletics
Houston Ready for Showdown in Ohio
1/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Cincinnati, Ohio â€" The Houston Cougar women's basketball team has a quick turnaround as they travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats, just three days after their matchup against USF in Tampa, Fla. Tipoff against the Bearcats is scheduled for 1 p.m., at Fifth Third Arena.
Fans who can't join the Cougars in Cincinnati on Saturday, can follow the game through a variety of outlets. Free live audio is available at UHCougars.com/wbbradio, with Jeremy Branham calling the action. Also, will provide an up-to-the-second numerical breakdown, while the official Twitter account of Houston Women's Basketball, @UHCougarWBB, will post periodic updates. LIVE AUDIO | | TWITTER
Houston (4-15, 0-8) dropped their most recent contest, falling 73-49 against USF at the Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.
The Cougars came out firing and jumped out to an 8-3 lead midway through the quarter. The Bulls responded with an 8-0 run of their own, but the Cougars scored four of the last six points of the quarter to cut the lead to 13-12 after the first.
USF would pull away in the second quarter sparked by an 18-0 run to begin the frame to give the Bulls a 19-point lead midway through the quarter. After that point, Houston was never able to pull within 17 points.
Senior forward Marche' Amerson scored eight points Wednesday night to give her 1,002 for her career. Amerson became the 23rd player in school history to reach quadruple-digit scoring. Alecia Smith returned from injury to lead the Cougars with 11 points.
The Bulls got big contributions from two players the entire night. Kitija Laksa and Courtney Williams combined to score 40 of the team's 73 points. Laksa had a game-high 24 points, while Williams added 16 of her own and completed a double-double by pulling down 13 rebounds.
THE STARTING FIVE
Here are five names, numbers, news items and storylines that you need to know about Houston's game against Cincinnati.
OVERTIME THRILLERS â€" The Cougars and Bearcats met twice during Head Coach Ronald Hughey's first season. The first matchup in Houston wend into double overtime, with the return game in Cincinnati also going into OT.
EXTRA FRAMES â€" Including last year's games that needed more than 40 minutes, the Cougars and Bearcats have also needed overtime to settle games in 2001, and 2002.
WE'LL SEE YOU AGAIN â€" Cincinnati is Houston's last remaining opponent on the schedule that they will still face twice the rest of the year. The Cougars and Bearcats will meet again on Feb. 20 in Houston.
AMERSON'S MARCH â€" After scoring eight points in the 73-49 loss against USF, Marche' Amerson became the 23rd 1,000 point scorer in Houston history. Amerson now sits at 1,002 points for her career.
CLOSE ONES â€" In the 17 games that the Cougars and Bearcats have met on the hardwood, seven have been decided by five points or less.
HOUSTON ONE-SHOTS
Here's the one thing you need to know about each member of the Houston roster:
#1 - Chyanne Butler - Registered career bests in points (17) and steals (seven) in the team's 50-48 loss to SMU on Jan. 10.
#2 - Jacqueline Blake â€" Blake matched a career-high with 11 points while also adding nine rebounds en route to earning Coach Hughey's player of the game honors against ECU.
#3 - Bianca Winslow â€" Tallied a career-high six assists while playing extended minutes in the team's 76-37 loss to UConn on Jan. 9
#5 - Dionna Collins - A finalist for the 2014-15 WBCA Junior College Player of the Year award, Collins will redshirt in 2015-16 due to NCAA transfer requirements.
#10 - Cenecia Newman - Cenecia Newman exploded for 14 points and four rebounds against Tulsa to earn Coach Hughey's player of the game award.
#12 - Brianne Coffman - Coffman will redshirt in 2015-16 due to NCAA transfer requirements. She spent her first two collegiate seasons at Oklahoma State.
#15 - Alecia Smith - Returned to action after being sidelined with a concussion to lead the Cougars with 11 points on the road at USF
#21 - Jessieka Palmer - Palmer erupted for six 3-pointers and a career-best 25 points against No. 24/23 George Washington on Nov. 26.
#22 - Marche' Amerson - Scored eight points in the matchup against USF to join the 1,000 career point club.
#23 - Serithia Hawkins - Hawkins earned her second career double-double in the team's 75-66 loss to Temple. She tallied 12 points and 10 boards with two assists.
#24 - Mariah Mitchell - Mitchell finished just one rebound shy of her first career double-double when she scored 11 points with nine boards against Temple.
#25 - Kierra Graves - Tallied a career-best 15 points against the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa on Jan. 20, while picking up five rebounds and two steals.
#32 - Sharayla Brown - Brown scored the first four points of her collegiate career Nov. 26 against No. 24/23 George Washington and made her first start Dec. 5 at Rice.
#33 - Tyler Gilbert â€" Exploded for a game-high 16 points in the team's 76-37 loss against No. 1/1 UConn, leading all scorers.
#35 - Taylor Gilbert - Gilbert received a medical hardship redshirt due to career-ending knee injuries. She remains on scholarship and is an active part of team functions.
LAST TIME OUT • JAN. 27, 2016 • USF 73, HOUSTON 49 | Final Stats
Houston fell to American Athletic Conference foe USF 73-49 on Jan. 27, in Tampa, Fla.
Senior forward Marche' Amerson scored eight points Wednesday night to give her 1,002 for her career. Amerson became the 23rd player in school history to reach quadruple-digit scoring. Alecia Smith returned from injury to lead the Cougars with 11 points.
The Cougars came out firing and jumped out to an 8-3 lead midway through the quarter. The Bulls responded with an 8-0 run of their own, but the Cougars scored four of the last six points of the quarter to cut the lead to 13-12 after the first.
USF would pull away in the second quarter sparked by an 18-0 run to begin the frame to give the Bulls a 19-point lead midway through the quarter. After that point, Houston was never able to pull within 17 points.
The Bulls got big contributions from two players the entire night. Kitija Laksa and Courtney Williams combined to score 40 of the team's 73 points. Laksa had a game-high 24 points, while Williams added 16 of her own and completed a double-double by pulling down 13 rebounds.
SERIES VS. CINCINNATI
Wednesday's game marks the 18th time the two squads will meet dating back to Feb. 16, 1997, an 81-65 win for the Bearcats.
Cincinnati won the first seven games in the series from February 1997 until January 2001. The Cougars responded to win four out of the next six contests, but are 1-3 since the two teams renewed their rivalry by joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014.
The teams last met on Jan. 31, 2015 in Cincinnati, a game the Bearcats won 69-66 in overtime.
THE COACHES
Houston head coach Ronald Hughey is in his second season at Houston, with a career record of 10-39. He is 0-2 all-time against Cincinnati.
Hughey accumulated a 163-154 (.514) career record in 10 seasons as an NCAA Division I assistant coach at South Carolina State, South Carolina, UCF, Rutgers, Texas and Florida State. He is a veteran of seven postseason tournaments (6 NCAA, 1 NIT) including two NCAA Second Rounds (2013, 2014), four NCAA First Rounds (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and one WNIT Second Round (2008).
A vaunted recruiter, Hughey orchestrated multiple national top-15 recruiting classes at both Texas and Florida State. At Houston, he signed an eight-player recruiting class in 2014-15, including two NJCAA All-Americans and four players rated as 3-star recruits by ESPN Hoopgurlz.
Hughey brought five more highly regarded recruits into the Houston program in the early 2015 signing period. Included in the group is Lufkin, Texas, native Natasha Mack, the first ESPN Hoopgurlz national top-100 recruit of his head coaching tenure.
Cincinnati head coach Jamelle Elliott is in her eighth season as head coach of the Bearcats and holds a 76-126 all-time record. The UConn alum has seen all of her head coaching experience come at Cincinnati.
SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Cincinnati (6-13, 2-6) enters Saturday's contest riding a three-game losing streak and our losers of 13 of their last 16 games. The Bearcats have collected conference wins against UCF and Tulsa this season, with each coming on the road.
Sophomore guard Ana Owens leads the Bearcats in scoring and assists this season. The Indianapolis, Ind. native scores 14.1 points per game, while dishing out 3.2 assists per contest. Owens shoots 35.7 percent from the field including 30.5 percent from behind the arc.
Senior guard Jasmine Whitfield has been a force on the glass for the Bearcats in 2016. Whitfield leads the squad in rebounds per game with 6.2, while senior guard Alyesha Lovett comes in just behind at 5.9 boards per game and 0.6 blocks per contest.
The Bearcats average 59.2 points per game while allowing their opponents to score 72.2. Opponents are being outrebounded by their competition by 7.5 boards per game, but lead the turnover margin by 0.2. Cincinnati shoots 33.4 percent from the field as a team including 28.4 percent from the arc.
KEY STATS FOR HOUSTON
Houston is one of the best teams in the American Athletic Conference when it comes to blocking shots. The team ranks fourth with 3.4 rejections per game, while senior Tyler Gilbert ranks fourth with 26 blocked shots this season.
MARCHE'S MARCH TO 1,000 POINTS
Amerson reached the 1,000 point plateau in the team's latest contest at USF. Midway through the third quarter, Amerson drove to the hole, pulled up and rattled in a jumper to give her six points in the contest, and 1,000 for her career. Amerson is now the 23rd player in school history to reach quadruple digits in points. Current Atlanta Dream standout Sancho Lyttle (2003-05) occupies the 22nd spot, with 1,092 career points, while Ann Moon (1977-81) checks in at No. 21 with 1,094 points.
MILESTONE WATCH
Amerson isn't the only Cougar who is climbing the Cougar record books in 2015-16, and her journey to 1,000 points wasn't the only number to monitor this season. The senior from Bryan, Texas, enters the Cincinnati game fifth in Houston history with 107 career starts, fifth with 3,383 minutes and eighth with 100 made 3-point field goals and 335 3-point field goal attempts.
Alecia Smith is climbing the career 3-point record books, ranking fifth in made 3-pointers (132), fourth in attempts (527) and ninth in minutes (3,032).
Gilbert climbed two spots on the Houston career shot-blocking charts with her three rejections in the UNLV game. She is now ranked sixth in school history with 108 blocks, and she's chasing Toni Mooney, who finished her career with 122 blocks, for fifth place. Gilbert became just the sixth player in Houston history with triple-digit blocks.
REGENTS APPROVE RENOVATIONS TO BASKETBALL ARENA
The University of Men's and Women's Basketball programs moved closer to a new competition home facility when school regents approved the start of the design process for the renovation of the Houston Basketball arena during its meeting Nov. 19.
Regents approved a project budget of up to $60 million with an anonymous donor pledging a $20 million gift to facilitate the arena's renovation.
Design work is scheduled to begin in March 2016 with construction starting one year later. Plans for the Cougars' home facility during the 2017-18 season have not been finalized and will be announced at a later date. The renovated facility is expected to be ready for game competition for the beginning of the 2018-19 season.
"This project has been long overdue, and we are grateful that Dr. Khator and our Board of Regents saw the need for this step with our basketball arena," Vice President for Athletics Hunter Yurachek said. "We look forward to starting the design process in the next few months and creating a facility that will provide the highest level of amenities to our fans and a significant home-court advantage for our Men's and Women's Basketball student-athletes."
Preliminary estimated capacity for the renovated arena will be reduced to 7,420 from its current seating bowl of 8,479. However, initial plans call for the court level to be raised three feet with fan seating moved closer to the court as part of an emphasis to improve the overall fan experience.
More than 2,000 premium seats will be developed to give fans the ultimate luxury seating options. That total includes a preliminary design of 1,750 club seats, 20 loge boxes with four seats in each, two open-air suites with 32 seats per unit and 90 courtside seats.
The arena's concourse level will be expanded to improve circulation with significant upgrades to the sound system, video board and arena seating.
Guy V. Lewis BASKETBALL CENTER NEARS COMPLETION | Live Webcam
The Houston Women's Basketball held their first full practice in the brand new Guy V. Lewis Basketball Center on Nov. 24, and they will move into the full facility in just a few short days. Once completed, the $25 million facility will be the home base for both Cougar hoops squads.
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.
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.
UP NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
The Cougars return to Hofheinz Pavilion for a two-game homestand where they will welcome UCF and Tulane to town. Houston hosts UCF on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., before the Tulane Green Wave visit in a rematch of the Dec. 30 American Athletic Conference opener that Tulane won 70-48 in New Orleans.
$50 SHASTA PASS NOW AVAILABLE
The Houston Fan Experience Headquarters is proud to offer the Shasta Pass for the 2015-16 athletic season. For only $50, Cougar fans can purchase one Shasta Pass, which allows season-long general admission entrance to all remaining Houston Women's Basketball and Softball home games.
The Shasta Pass offers Houston fans a substantial savings as single-game tickets start at $8 for all four sports. To purchase a Shasta Pass, CLICK HERE.
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.
