TicketsBearcats Open Regular Season at Toledo
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
11/17/2004
Anne Stephens |
GAME FACTS
Date: Fri., Nov. 19, 2004
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Site: Savage Hall (9,000)
Toledo, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati, 15-16 in 2003-04
Toledo, 13-16 in 2003-04
Radio: None
TV: None
Live Stats: www.utrockets.com
Tickets: $9, (419) 530-GOLD
Series: UC leads, 6-1
Last Meeting: Jan. 4, 2003 at UC
UC 64, Toledo 57
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team opens the 2004-05 season on the road, visiting the University of Toledo on Friday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. in Savage Hall. The Bearcats are coming off a 15-16 season and seventh-straight postseason berth. They won both of their preseason exhibitions. The Rockets return two starters from last year's 13-16 squad.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2003-04 Statistics
F 22 Crystal Ashley, 6-1 Sr., Oakland, Calif. 1.2 pts, 0.7 reb 0.3 ast
C 45 Anne Stephens, 6-4 Jr., Mineral Wells, W. Va. 7.3 pts, 5.3 reb, 0.4 ast
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr., Sardinia, Ohio 6.5 pts, 2.8 reb, 4.7 ast
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 6.2 pts, 4.2 reb, 1.2 ast
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 6.9 pts, 3.3 reb, 0.9 ast
TOLEDO PROBABLE STARTERS 2003-04 Statistics
F 10 Danielle Bishop, 5-9 So., Laingsburg, Mich. 10.1 pts, 4.9 reb 2.9 ast
F 40 Amanda Davis, 6-0 Jr., Cincinnati, Ohio 3.1 pts, 2.1 reb, 0.6 ast
C 21 Karin Hoogendam, 6-3 Sr., St. Catherines, Ont. 11.9 pts, 6.4 reb, 0.6 ast
G 15 Aaron Richmond, 5-9 Fr., Bowling Green, Ohio High School
G 34 Olivia Terry, 5-8 Fr., Richmond, Ky. High School
NOTING THE PRESEASON: The Bearcats won both their preseason contests, topping Findlay, 71-44, and the Ohio Legends, 55-43.
? Three Bearcats averaged double-figure scoring, led by Anne Stephens' 17 points per game. She was followed by Bellva May at 13.0 and Karen Twehues at 10.0
? Stephens grabbed 15 rebounds in the second game to lead the team with a 10.5 average. Twehues was second at 7.5.
? UC shot just .380 from the field, but held its opponents to .284 shooting.
? The Bearcats held a +12.0 rebounding margin and +8.5 turnover margin. Playing nearly all of both games at point guard due to injuries to Micah Harvey and Treasure Humphries, Leslie Knoch had nine assists against just four turnovers.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: The Bearcats will play 14 games this year against teams that reached the postseason in 2004. As a result, UC's schedule is ranked as the 38th toughest in the nation by the WBCA/Summerville RPI. UC's 2004-05 opponents have a combined 438-326 record for a .573 winning percentage. Included in the strong home schedule are match-ups with Michigan State and Arkansas, as well as the annual Crosstown Shootout against Xavier.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Bearcats will open the season with a combined total of 71 games of starting experience. 49 of those games come from Anne Stephens (25) and Micah Harvey (24). For comparison, last year?s team brought 229 games of starting experience into the 2003-04 campaign.
ON SEASON OPENERS: UC has won six of its last eight season openers and is 13-20 all-time. The Bearcats are 8-25 in their 33 road openers and have dropped six of the last seven. The last win in a road opener was a 70-58 decision at Dayton on Nov. 16, 2002.
FIRING FROM DEEP: UC was a hot shooting team last year from behind the arc. The Bearcats ranked 19th in the country with a .366 team three-point percentage, which was a school record, as was the 177 made treys.
POSTSEASON TRADITION: The Bearcats have reached postseason tourney play seven straight times, with this era accounting for all but two of the postseason appearances in school history. Four of the seven have been to the WNIT, including last year. The seven-season streak is the longest active streak in Conference USA.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: UC has won 487 games entering its 34th season of play. The Bearcats are vying with four other schools to become the first women's team in Conference USA to reach 500 all-time victories. Southern Miss is the current leader with 492, while East Carolina (486), Houston (484) and Louisville (479) are right behind UC.
UNQUESTIONED LEADER: Head Coach Laurie Pirtle is UC's all-time leader in coaching wins and on Feb. 21, 2002 she earned her 250th win leading the Bearcats. She joined DePaul's Doug Bruno as the only C-USA coaches with at least 250 wins at their current school. On Feb. 20 against East Carolina she became the 54th active coach to win 350 games in their career.
HOME SWEET SHOE: Since Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 140-73 (.657) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have been nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 95-19 mark (.833). UC went 15-1 at home in 2001-02, the best-ever mark. The Bearcats put together a school-record 21-game home win streak from Jan. 1, 2002 until a loss to Tulane on Feb. 2, 2003.
POWER CONFERENCE: Last year Conference USA produced an all-time high of 17 postseason basketball teams (6 NCAA Men, 4 NCAA Women, 2 NIT, 5 WNIT). Only the Big East with 19 (6 NCAA Men, 8 NCAA women, 4 NIT and 1 WNIT) and the Big 12 with 18 (4 NCAA Men, 7 NCAA Women, 5 NIT and 2 WNIT) produced more postseason basketball teams last March.
CLOSE CALLS: The Bearcats lost 16 games last year by an average of just 8.6 points. In fact, eight of the losses were by six points or less. The Bearcats' struggles in close games also resulted in losing six games in which they led at halftime.
ROAD WEARY: The Bearcats have won 54 of their last 81 games, with 20 of those 27 losses occurring away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 12 of its last 16 road games. The Bearcats averaged 11.3 fewer points scored on the road last year than at home.
CONFERENCE USA SUCCESS: The Bearcats are one of seven teams to have a conference record over .500 in the history of Conference USA. UC is 77-57 (.575) in the nine-year history of the league, posting winning league marks in the five years before this one. The Bearcats were 12-4 in the 1998-99 season to claim the regular season championship.
BEARCATS SIGN FIVE FOR NEXT YEAR: During the early signing period this fall, UC received letters of intent from five high school seniors. The Bearcats' class was ranked as the 10th best in the nation by Dan Olson of All-Star Girls Report:
? Shelly Bellman from Ottawa-Glendorf High School in Ottawa, Ohio is a 5-10 guard/forward who has twice been named an honorable mention All-American by Street and Smith?s and is ranked No. 121 nationally and one of the top 20 guards by ASGR. She averaged 13 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 4.5 assists per game last year.
? Michele Jones is a 6-1 forward from Mt. Notre Dame in Cincinnati. She is ranked No. 93 in the nation by the All-Star Girls Report. She was named second team all-state last year after scoring 15.7 points per game.
? Angel Morgan is a 5-8 guard from Springfield North High School in Springfield, Ohio. She is ranked No. 95 in the nation by ASGRt and earned all-county and all-conference for three years.
? Kahla Roudebush is a 5-8 guard from Noblesville, Ind. and Hamilton Southeastern High School. She earned honorable mention all-state from the Louisville Courier-Journal last year and was named to the Indiana Basketball Tremendous 26 Team. She is ranked as No. 115 nationally by ASGR.
? Jill Stephens is the headliner of the class. A 6-3 center from Mineral Wells, W. Va. and Parkersburg South High School, she is ranked as the 44th best senior in the nation by Blue Star Basketball and is a two-time first team all-state honoree and honorable mention All-American. Stephens averaged 22.4 points and 13 rebounds per game last year and was one of 48 players invited to the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival last summer. She is the younger sister of current Bearcat Anne Stephens.
MISSING PIECES: With the loss of three starters from last year's squad the Bearcats have a lot to make up for. UC returns just 50.5 percent of its scoring and rebounding. Anne Stephens is the leading returner in both categories, as she averaged 7.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game last year.
AMAZING ACCURACY: Twice last season the Bearcats tied UC and C-USA records by being perfect from the free throw line as a team. On Dec. 13 they made 11-of-11 at Indiana State and against Loyola Marymount on Dec. 21 UC had a 14-of-14 performance as a team. For the year the Bearcats led C-USA with a .746 percentage, the best in school history and second in C-USA annals. Seven of 11 players shot over .700.
COMING OUT FIRING: Sophomore guard Karen Twehues had an immediate impact on the Bearcats once she joined the team last January. In her first two games she scored 27 points and made 6-of-13 three-pointers. She finished second on the team in three-pointers and three-point percentage. The NCAA mandated that Twehues sit out the first 12 games of her career due to the club team she played for in her native Switzerland.
UP NEXT: UC opens a stretch of six-straight home games when it hosts Detroit on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.