TicketsBillikens Outlast Bearcats
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
1/28/2005
Anne Stephens scored a team-high 14 points. |
ST. LOUIS, Mo. ? In a game with 10 ties and 18 lead changes, Cincinnati fell to Saint Louis, 49-47, in Conference USA women?s basketball action on Friday night in the Bauman-Eberhardt Center.
The loss was the ninth straight for the Bearcats, equaling streaks in the 1990-91 and 1994-95 seasons for the second-longest in school history. UC is now 5-14 overall and 0-6 in C-USA.
The Billikens moved to 3-17 and 2-5 in front of a crowd of 1,665, the third-largest in Bauman Center women?s basketball history.
Mia Johnson scored a game-high 19 points, including nine of the Billiken?s 12 points in the final five minutes. Marquita McFarland posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Anne Stephens scored a team-high 14 points with three blocks for UC and Bellva May had 10 points and six rebounds.
UC held the Billikens to .291 shooting from the field and won the rebounding battle, 47-36. Saint Louis, however, outscored the Bearcats at the foul line, 15-3, and held UC to .329 shooting and without a three-pointer for the first time in 111 games. The Bearcats committed 21 turnovers which led to 15 SLU points.
?I thought we played really out of control and undisciplined,? said head coach Laurie Pirtle. ?We took some bad shots and I think we got fatigued at the end.?
Edwina Williams recorded career highs of four points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes of playing time.
?Edwina?s solid and dependable,? added Pirtle. ?She?s rebounding and playing with passion and I think the other players respond to that.?
UC took its final, and largest, lead at 41-37 with 5:51 to go when May scored consecutive baskets to cap a 10-2 Bearcat run.
Johnson answered with a driving lay-up and followed a Rachel Diener trey with a three-point play to put SLU ahead 45-41 with 3:16 left.
Stephens pulled the Bearcats back within two, but Johnson scored right back. Toni Slaughter responded with a jumper with 2:18 left. SLU missed shots on their next two possessions, but UC turned it back over each time.
The Bearcats were forced to foul and Johnson hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to go ahead 49-45. Stephens scored on a put back with 11 seconds left and UC had a final shot after Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Micah Harvey had an open look at a 19-footer with two seconds left that missed.
The first half was an offensive struggle with the Billikens missing their first nine shots, but staying even with the Bearcats thanks to foul shots.
There were four ties and four lead changes in the first 10 minutes before a Treasure Humphries jumper extended the UC lead to 12-8. SLU, however, scored the next five points and the back and forth started over again.
The final points of the half were foul shots by McFarland that gave the Billikens a 19-18 lead.
McFarland led all scorers with nine points at the half, all at the line. SLU made just 4-of-24 shots from the field (.167). The teams combined to miss all 13 three-point attempts.
UC is back in action on Sunday, Jan. 30 when they face Memphis on the road at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be televised live on College Sports TV.