PREVIEW: Women’s Basketball Welcomes #18/18 West Virginia on Saturday

HOUSTON – The University of Houston Women's Basketball program faces #18/18 West Virginia in its lone regular season meeting at 2 p.m., Saturday, inside Fertitta Center for its Celebrate Black Excellence Game.

HOUSTON COUGARS (5-18, 1-11 Big 12) vs. #18/18 West Virginia (18-4, 8-3 Big 12)
Date \| Time	Saturday, Feb. 8 \| 2 p.m.
Opponent	West Virginia
Location	Fertitta Center \| Houston, Texas
Watch	ESPN+ \| Chelsea Rebber (play-by-play), Austyn Iven (analyst) and Brooke Kirchhofer (sideline reporter)
Listen	The Varsity Network \| Lonnie King
Live Stats	UHStats.com
Game Notes	Houston \| West Virginia

THE GAME

Houston and #18/18 West Virginia meet for the fifth time in series history and the first time in Fertitta Center as Big 12 Conference members.
After dropping its sixth-straight conference game, the Cougars look to defeat the Mountaineers for the first time in program history.
West Virginia leads the all-time series, 4-0.
Saturday marks the fourth meeting between Head Coaches Ronald Hughey and Mark Kellogg.
The Cougars are 1-3 against ranked opponents this season.

LAST TIME OUT

Houston Women's Basketball dropped its sixth-straight conference game against rv/rv Baylor, 92-47 inside Fertitta Center on Wednesday evening.
Houston had three Cougars score in double figures with graduate guard Eylia Love's 13 points as well as 13 points and five steals from sophomore guard Kierra Merchant. Redshirt sophomore guard Gigi Cooke scored 11 points for her 12th game this season scoring 10 or more points.

HEADLINES

The Cougars return six players from the 2023-24 roster: Kierra Merchant, Gigi Cooke, Avalon Miller, Maliyah Johnson, Peyton McFarland and All-Big 12 Conference Honorable Mention, Laila Blair.
Blair is now Houston's record holder for 3-pointers made with 239 career 3-pointers and most minutes played in program history at 4,108 minutes.
With 120 career starts, Blair needs two starts to surpass Porsche Landry's 121 starts for most games started in program history.
On Jan. 11, Blair moved up to third on Houston's all-time scoring list. She has 1,865 career points and needs 93 points to move into second to surpass Sharion Higgins' 1,957 points.
Avalon Miller (Achilles), Maliyah Johnson (ACL) and Kateri Poole (ACL) are out for the season.
Guard Leilani Augmon suffered a broken nose against Baylor (Jan. 17). The guard had surgery on Jan. 27 and is expected to return mid-to-late February.
Guard Ashley Chevalier is out indefinitely due to personal reasons.

SERIES HISTORY

Houston record vs. West Virginia	0-4
Home / away / neutral	0-1/0-2/0-1
Last meeting	L, 39-80 (Jan. 17, 2024)
Streak	West Virginia

SUPPORT YOUR COOGS
Fans can make a direct impact on the success of Houston Women's Basketball by purchasing single game tickets, supporting LinkingCoogs – UH's very own NIL collective – and by joining the Fast Break Club, which provides support directly to Houston Women's Basketball for needs beyond its operating budget.

STAY CONNECTED
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– UHCougars.com –

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