CINCINNATI – In its only regular season meeting, the University of Houston women’s basketball team posted its largest win over Cincinnati in program history 63-39 on Wednesday in Fifth Third Arena.
Four different Cougars scored in double-figures, led by junior Laila Blair’s game-high 17 points and graduate Tatyana Hill’s 13th-career double-double (10 points, 14 rebounds). Senior Bria Patterson chipped in 13 points and redshirt senior Britney Onyeje added 10 more.
Houston (7-13, 4-3 American) held Cincinnati (7-12, 0-6) to single digit scoring in three different quarters and handed the hosts their seventh-straight loss. In the first quarter Cincinnati didn’t score its first points until the 4:37 mark – the longest scoring drought to start a game by a Houston opponent this season.
The Cougars held the Bearcats to just eight points in the first quarter, the second-straight game Houston’s opponent has not scored 10-plus points in the first quarter.
An 16-0 run over 5:32 in the second quarter pushed Houston to a 29-10 lead with 2:58 left in the half. All five starters scored for Houston during the 16-point run including three-pointers from Blair and senior Bria Patterson.
Blair scored 10 points and Patterson chipped in nine of her own in the first half as the Cougars outscored the Bearcats 18-5 in the second quarter. Cincinnati’s five points in the second period is a season-low allowed by Houston in any quarter this season. Houston held Cincinnati to nine points in the fourth.
The Bearcats used a Reverse Uno card on the Cougars defensively in the third quarter, not allowing Houston to score a field goal for a four-minute stretch in the middle of the period. Houston’s lone basket through four minutes of play in the half came on Onyeje’s three-pointer with 8:29 left in the quarter.
The Cougars returned to their defensive identity a few moments later by forcing four-straight turnovers.
Houston held Cincinnati to its second-lowest shooting efficiency of the season, 23.5 percent. The fantastic field goal percentage defense is the first time since 2014 against Nicholls State that Houston had held its opponent under 25 percent from the field, and the lowest in head coach Ronald Hughey‘s career in Houston.
UP NEXT
The Cougars return home to take on Tulane on ESPNU Sunday in the second meeting in just over three weeks. The 1 p.m. CT tip marks the final regular season meeting between the two programs.
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