TicketsBearcats Host Ball State on Wednesday
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
11/23/2004
Leslie Knoch scored a career-high 10 points on Sunday. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Wed., Nov. 24, 2004
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati, 1-1
Ball State, 2-0
Radio: www.Bearcast.uc.edu
TV: None
Live Stats: www.ucbearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, (513) 556-CATS
$1 with a canned food item for FreeStore/FoodBank
Series: UC leads, 7-4
Last Meeting: Dec. 13, 1998 at BSU
UC 78, BSU 74 ot
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team heads into the Thanksgiving holiday with a match-up against Ball State on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 2 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats (1-1) opened a six-game homestand with a 60-31 win over Detroit on Sunday. The Cardinals (2-0) started the season by taking the Seton Hall Classic with wins over Wagner and the host school.
CANNED FOOD DISCOUNT: Any fan bringing a canned food item to Wednesday's game will gain admission for $1. The food items will benefit the FreeStore/FoodBank.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics
F 1 Ashley Brown, 6-0 Fr., Wilberforce, Ohio 6.0 pts, 10.0 reb 0.5 ast
C 45 Anne Stephens, 6-4 Jr., Mineral Wells, W. Va. 17.0 pts, 5.5 reb, 0.0 ast
G 11 Leslie Knoch, 5-6 Jr., Whipple, Ohio 6.5 pts, 3.0 reb, 5.5 ast
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 6.5 pts, 7.0 reb, 3.5 ast
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 14.0 pts, 5.0 reb, 1.5 ast
BALL STATE PROBABLE STARTERS 2004-05 Statistics
F 14 Julie DeMuth, 5-10 Fr., Merrillville, Ind. 13.5 pts, 8.5 reb, 1.0 ast
C 13 Raechelle Hampton, 6-2 Sr., Detroit, Mich. 7.0 pts, 7.0 reb, 3.0 ast
G 1 Tina Bolte, 5-7 So., Columbus, Ind. 10.5 pts, 1.0 reb, 0.5 ast
G 11 Kelsey Corbin, 5-9 So., Fort Wayne, Ind. 9.0 pts, 6.5 reb, 5.5 ast
G 30 Kate Endress, 6-0 Sr., Evansville, Ind. 18.0 pts, 4.0 reb, 1.0 ast
STORYLINES:
? The Bearcats will be facing their second Mid-American Conference opponent of the season, having lost at Toledo in the opener. The Bearcats are 76-48 against current members of the MAC.
? UC stands 12 wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history.
? A pair of three-point specialists will face off on Wednesday in UC's Karen Twehues and BSU's Kate Endress. Twehues has made 7-15 three-pointers and scored 28 points in the first two games. Endress drained 6-of-11 triples and averaged 18.0 ppg to earn MAC Player of the Week honors.
? Ball State's Lisa Rusche, an Oak Hills graduate, is the third Cincinnati-native the Bearcats have faced in three games.
? UC leads the all-time series, 7-4, but the Cardinals have won two of the three games in Fifth Third Arena.
? Micah Harvey is three assists from becoming the 18th Bearcat to total 200 in her career.
NOTING DETROIT:
? The Bearcats won their ninth-straight home opener. They have won 11 of 15 in Fifth Third Arena.
? Leslie Knoch set a career-high with 10 points, while newcomers Ashley Brown (13) and Bellva May (eight) set new bests in rebounds.
? The 31 points scored by Detroit was the fewest allowed by UC since 29 by Robert Morris on Nov. 20, 2001 and the lowest total in Detroit history.
? Freshmen Kristi Brogan and Bianca Roldan-Jarus made their Bearcat debuts.
ON OPENERS: The Bearcats are now 21-13 in their 34 home openers and have won the last nine and 11 of 15 in Fifth Third Arena. The last loss in a home opener was a 76-73 decision to Ball State on Nov. 25, 1995. The Bearcats are now 8-26 in their 34 road openers and have dropped seven of the last eight. The last win in a road opener was a 70-58 decision at Dayton on Nov. 16, 2002.
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.
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 opened the season with a combined total of 71 games of starting experience. 49 of those games came 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. Ashley Brown and Leslie Knoch earned their first starts at Toledo.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: UC has won 488 games now in 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 (487), Houston (486) and Louisville (480) 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.
FIRING FROM DEEP: UC's .394 shooting on three-pointers this year continues the hot shooting from last year. 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.
HOME SWEET SHOE: Since Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 141-73 (.659) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have been nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 96-19 mark (.835). 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 season opener at Toledo, where UC lost a 12-point halftime lead and lost by five, continued a trend started in 2003-04. 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.
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.
ROAD WEARY: The Bearcats have won 55 of their last 83 games, with 21 of those 28 losses occurring away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 13 of its last 17 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.
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. In the season opener she made 4-of-9 from behind the arc.
UP NEXT: UC continues its homestand after the holiday when it hosts Indiana State on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 2 p.m.