TicketsSlow First Half Dooms Bearcats in Loss to TCU
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
1/23/2005
Bellva May led UC with a career-high 18 points. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Sandora Irvin?s 15 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots paced TCU to a 68-51 win over Cincinnati in women?s basketball action on Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Arena.
Bellva May led UC with a career-high 18 points, 16 coming in the second half.
It was the eighth-straight loss for the Bearcats, who fall to 5-13 overall and 0-5 in C-USA. The Lady Frogs climb to 14-6, 5-1.
Natasha Lacy led TCU with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Niki Newton recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Bearcats struggled to a .222 shooting percentage in the first half as Irvin shut down the inside with three blocks. After Toni Slaughter opened the game with a three-pointer, UC missed its next seven shots.
Foul shots and solid defense and rebounding kept the Bearcats in the game as the score was tied, 6-6, after five minutes.
A Karen Twehues three-pointer was UC?s only score for five minutes as the Lady Frogs built a 17-9 lead on nine-straight points by Lacy.
Anne Stephens responded for the Bearcats, scoring six points in an 8-2 run that pulled UC to 19-17 with 7:44 to go. That was as close as UC got, however, as the Bearcats did not score another field goal for the rest of the half.
Leading by three with 6:26 left, TCU scored the next 11 points to take control. Newton scored four points in the run and Irvin had three as the Lady Frogs went up 32-18 and took a 34-20 advantage into the lockerroom at halftime.
Irvin led all scorers with 11 points at the break with three steals and three blocks and Newton added eight points and six rebounds.
Slaughter led the Bearcats with seven points and six rebounds. UC made 6-of-27 shots from the field while TCU shot 44 percent (11-of-25). The Bearcats were outscored in the paint, 16-6.
UC remained cold to start the second half, scoring just one basket in the first six minutes on a Stephens make. The Lady Frogs used that time to extend their lead to 44-22 on a Lacy jumper with 13:07 to go.
The lead had grown to 24 with 10:59 to go when a Treasure Humphries three-pointer ignited a 10-2 Bearcat run. Bellva May scored the last five points of the stretch to close to 53-37 with 8:50 to go.
After a Lacy score, May scored the next four to cut the lead to 55-41 with 7:33 to go. Lacy put an end to the Bearcat comeback by scoring two lay-ins in six seconds to extend the lead back to 18. UC never got closer than 16 after that.
UC shot .444 in the second half to bring its game percentage up to .333. but TCU made half of its shots in the second stanza.
The Bearcats are next in action on the road as they take on Saint Louis on Friday, Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. CT.