TicketsValiant Comeback Falls Victim to Buzzer-Beater
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
1/16/2005
Leslie Knoch made a career-high five three-pointers. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Jazz Covington?s off-balance jumper with one second left negated a 17-point comeback by Cincinnati and gave Louisville a 72-71 win in women?s basketball action on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena.
The Bearcats (5-11, 0-3 C-USA), who were down 17 just 29 seconds into the second half, trailed by nine with four minutes to go when Bellva May made her second of five second-half steals, leading to consecutive three-pointers by Karen Twehues.
May made another theft on the next possession and laid it in herself to cap the 8-0 burst and make the score 68-67 with 2:08 to go.
Covington made two free throws to push it back to a three-point game, but UC answered when Micah Harvey found Emy Ogide underneath for her only basket of the game. Harvey made a steal on the next possession and made two foul shots with 32 seconds left to give the Bearcats a 71-70 lead, their first since nine minutes into the game.
The Cardinals (11-5, 2-1 C-USA) tried to run the clock down for the last shot, but May stole the ball from Covington with eight seconds left. As she tried to corral it, however, Angel Bradley took it back from May and Jessica Huggins found Covington on the right side for a turnaround 12-footer and the win.
?I?m encouraged that we came back and didn?t throw the towel in,? said head coach Laurie Pirtle. ?But I?m disappointed in our lack of discipline. Hopefully this game will validate what we are doing everyday in practice. I think this team in starting to buy into our system.?
Covington finished with a career-high 32 points on 11-of-13 shooting. For the game Louisville shot .643 from the field, including 8-of-12 from behind the arc. It was the first time in 138 games (11/29/00 by Wis.-Green Bay) that UC allowed an opponent to shoot over 60 percent. Missy Taylor was the only other Cardinal in double-figures with 12 points to go with a game-high six rebounds.
The Bearcats put four players in double-figures for the second-straight game, led by Leslie Knoch?s 16 points and Twehues? 15. The two combined to make 9-of-14 three-pointers. UC shot .533 in the second half to finish at .500 for the game for the first time this year.
Anne Stephens added 12 points, 10 in the second half, and Toni Slaughter scored 11. Harvey handed out seven assists, while May had six points and three rebounds to go with her five steals.
Both teams started the game hot, as UC led 14-11 after just four minutes despite Louisville making its first six shots. There were four lead changes and three ties in that span and each team made three, three-pointers.
The Cards put together a 7-0 run started by a Taylor jumper that produced an 18-14 lead with 13:19 to go
The Bearcats responded with a 7-2 stretch to reclaim the lead, as Knoch followed a free throw with her third trey of the half.
After Harvey gave UC a 21-20 advantage with 11:12 to play, however, the Bearcats turned the ball over on eight of the next nine possessions and the Cards stayed red hot.
Connie Neal scored five-straight points and Bradley put UL ahead 27-21 before a Twehues triple, her second of the half, momentarily slowed the momentum at 27-24 Louisville with 7:02 to go.
UL went on to score the next 10 points, six coming from Covington, for a 13-point lead. After Stephens got on the board and Slaughter scored her sixth point of the half to close the margin to nine points, the Cards scored five points in the final minute to take a 42-28 advantage into the lockerroom.
Covington led all scorers at the half with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting. UL made 17-of-23 shots in the half and 6-of-9 three-pointers. Taylor and Neal each had eight points and Huggins handed out six assists of her nine assists.
The Bearcats shot well also, making .455 of their shots from the floor. Knoch had a team-high 10 points and Twehues scored nine as the two combined to make five of eight three-point attempts.
Huggins made a three-pointer to start the second half to put UC down 17 before the comeback began. Another Huggins triple with five minutes gone accounted for Louisville?s only scores in the first seven minutes of the half.
In that time the Bearcats trimmed the lead to eight. Stephens started the comeback by scoring three straight baskets. A May jumper got the Bearcats within nine, 45-36, with 15:29 left.
UC answered Huggins?s triple with Harvey free throws and another May jumper, making the score 48-40 with 13:37 to go.
The teams played back and forth after that, with UL going ahead by as many as 13 but UC always coming back.
The Bearcats got two key three-pointers from Knoch and one from Slaughter in this stretch to keep UC in the game, getting as close as seven before the exciting final minutes.
UC continues its four-game homestand when it hosts Houston on Friday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.