TicketsBearcats Close 2004 On the Road
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
12/28/2004
Anne Stephens posted her fourth double-double last time out. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Wed., Dec. 29, 2004
Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
Site: Murphy Center (11,500)
Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Records: Cincinnati, 5-5
Middle Tennessee St., 6-4
Radio: WMTS 88.3 FM
www.goblueraiders.com
TV: None
Live Stats: None
Tickets: $7, 1-888-YES-MTSU
Series: UC leads, 5-0
Last Meeting: Nov. 30, 2002 at UC
UC 79, MTSU 59
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team takes to the road for just the third time this season when it faces Middle Tennessee State on Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. CT. The Bearcats evened their record at 5-5 with a 55-45 win over Loyola Marymount last Tuesday. The Lady Raiders are 6-4 and winners of four of their last five.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 11.4 7.0 1.9 .359
C 45 Anne Stephens, 6-4 Jr., Mineral Wells, W. Va. 12.0 6.7 0.6 .490
G 11 Leslie Knoch, 5-6 Jr., Whipple, Ohio 9.3 3.4 3.2 .448
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr, Sardinia, Ohio 4.0 1.4 2.6 .294
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 9.8 3.1 1.1 .319
MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 4 Krystle Horton, 6-2 So., Murfreesboro, Tenn. 14.9 6.4 1.7 .570
F 11 Ditte Jakobsen, 6-2 Sr., Skovlunde, Denmark 3.3 2.3 2.4 .250
F 21 Tia Stovall, 6-1 Jr., Estill Springs, Tenn. 14.7 6.3 1.4 .505
G 22 Chrissy Givens, 5-11 So., Monroe, La. 8.4 5.0 3.0 .437
G 23 Patrice Holmes, 5-9 Sr., Bishopville, S.C. 14.5 5.1 3.9 .395
STORYLINES:
? UC stands eight wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history.
? Toni Slaughter has scored in double-figures the past six games, averaging 14.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in that span.
? Seven different Bearcats have scored in double-figures this year and five players have led the team in scoring in at least one game.
? The Bearcats have held their last two opponents to 43.0 points per game and .330 shooting from the field.
? After recording one point and one rebound in the first six games of the year, freshman Emy Ogide has averaged 1.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in the last four games.
? The Lady Raiders boast three players scoring over 14 points per game, led by Krystle Horton's 14.9 average. The 6-2 senior also has a team-high 6.4 rebounds per game average and is 34th in the nation shooting .570 from the field.
NOTING LOYOLA MARYMOUNT:
? Toni Slaughter picked up her first career double-double with 16 points and a career-best 12 rebounds.
? Anne Stephens added her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
? The Bearcats set season-lows for three-pointers made and attempted by going 2-for-9.
? UC allowed under 50 points for the second-straight time and third time this season. LMU was also the fifth opponent in 10 games held under 40 percent shooting.
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. Nine of the players on the 2004-05 roster are in just their first or second year at UC.
BALANCED ATTACK: UC has gotten contributions from a number of different sources offensively and on the boards. Four Bearcats are scoring at least nine points per game ? Anne Stephens (12.0 ppg), Toni Slaughter (11.4), Karen Twehues (9.8) and Leslie Knoch (9.3). Five different players have led UC in scoring in the first 10 games. Also, three players ? Slaughter, Stephens and Ashley Brown ? are recording over six rebounds per game.
TAKING ADVANTAGE: Fully healthy for the first time in her career, redshirt junior Leslie Knoch has become a leader for the Bearcats on and off the court. She is one of four team captains and has started all nine games this year, the first starts of her career. She has scored in double-figures five times this season, with a career high 20 points in the comeback win over Ball State. She ranks 11th in C-USA in assists (3.2/g), seventh in three-point percentage (.390) and eighth in three-pointers made (1.6/g).
COMING ON STRONG: Sophomore captain Toni Slaughter has turned on the offense in the last six games, averaging 14.8 points in that span. She had failed to score in double-figures in the first four games after averaging 11.8 points in her last eight starts last year. Slaughter also leads the team in rebounding at 7.0 per game. She tied her career-high with 20 points at Evansville and recorded her first double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds vs. Loyola Marymount.
TALE OF TWO HALVES: The Bearcats are holding opponents to 25.8 points in the first half, while scoring 30.1. In the second half, however, UC has allowed an average of 34.0 points while scoring just 29.4. Four opponents this year have posted 40 or more points after halftime and UC has reached 30 points in just four second stanzas. The Bearcats were ahead or tied at halftime in their first six games, despite a 3-3 record.
BEARCAT BOMBERS: After making just seven-of-30 (.233) from behind the arc against Indiana State and Dayton, the Bearcats rebounded by making seven-of-13 vs. Michigan State and came one shy of the school-record by making 11-of-27 vs. Alabama State. For the season UC has made 58-of-161 (.360) treys to its opponents' 34-of-112 (.304). Last season, 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. This year they are 42nd nationally in three-point percentage and 50th in three-point field goals.
GETTING TO THE LINE: After taking just 39 free throw attempts (9.8 per game) in their first four games, the Bearcats have gotten more aggressive. They have taken 137 in the last six games for a 22.8 average per game. Last season UC set a school-record by making .746 of its attempts, but got to the line 88 fewer times than its opponents.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: Now in its 34th season of play, UC has won 492 games. 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 496, while Houston has 494. East Carolina (488), and Louisville (487) are right behind UC.
A DAY FOR THANKS: The day before Thanksgiving left much to be thankful for in Bearcat basketball at Fifth Third Arena. In the afternoon, the UC women came back from a 14-point deficit with fewer than nine minutes left to top Ball State, 62-58. Leslie Knoch's career-high 20 points led the comeback effort. Later that night, the men trailed Northern Iowa by 18 with 10 minutes left, but UC evened the score and eventually won, 76-70, in double overtime. The greatest comeback in Fifth Third Arena history was led by Jihad Muhammad's 23 points, nine coming in the final 2:50 of regulation.
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, 2004 against East Carolina she became the 54th active coach to win 350 games in a career.
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 had a combined 438-326 record for a .573 winning percentage last year. Included in the strong home schedule are match-ups with Michigan State and Arkansas, as well as the annual Crosstown Shootout against Xavier.
MISSING PIECES: With the loss of three starters from last year's squad the Bearcats have a lot to make up for. UC returned 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. She is carrying the load this year so far, leading the team in scoring (12.0 ppg) and ranking second in rebounds (6.7 rpg). Leslie Knoch and Ashley Brown have picked up the slack, ranking fourth and fifth in scoring while leading the team in assists (3.2 apg) and ranking third in rebounding (6.2 rpg), respectively.
DEFENSIVE LOCKDOWN: The 31 points scored by Detroit in UC's 60-31 win on Nov. 21 was the 11th-fewest ever allowed by the Bearcats. It was the lowest total by a UC opponent since Robert Morris scored 29 on Nov. 20, 2001. It was also the fewest points ever scored by Detroit. The seven blocked shots by the Bearcats equalled the second-best single-game total in school annals.
CLOSE CALLS: UC was 3-8 last year in games decided by six points or fewer, but won on two of the last three occasions. The season opener at Toledo, where UC lost a 12-point halftime lead and was defeated by five, and the 62-58 comeback win over Ball State continued the trend of close games. The Bearcats lost 16 games last year by an average of just 8.6 points.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 147-76 (.659) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have been nearly unbeatable at home, posting a 100-22 mark (.820). 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.
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.
CONFERENCE USA SUCCESS: The Bearcats are one of seven teams to have a conference record over .500 throughout 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 last year. The Bearcats were 12-4 in the 1998-99 season to claim the regular season championship.
ROAD WEARY: The Bearcats have won 58 of their last 90 games, with 22 of those 32 losses occurring away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 14 of its last 18 road games. The Bearcats averaged 11.3 fewer points scored on the road last year than at home.
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. This year UC is shooting .642 from the line and has taken 21 fewer attempts than its opponents.
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. This year she has made 23-of-60 from behind the arc (.383).
UP NEXT: UC faces its final test before Conference USA play starts when it hosts Arkansas on Sunday, Jan. 2 in Fifth Third Arena at 2 p.m.