TicketsSlaughter Leads UC to Second-Straight Win
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
2/5/2005
Toni Slaughter made four three-pointers in the win over Marquette. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio ? Toni Slaughter?s career-high 22 points led Cincinnati to a 79-69 win over Marquette in Conference USA women?s basketball action on Saturday afternoon in Fifth Third Arena.
Slaughter, who shot 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from behind the arc, led four Bearcats in double-figures as UC set a season-high for points. UC shot 47 percent from the field, 53 percent (9-17) from three and 88 percent (14-16) from the foul line in its most efficient offensive game this season.
?We got good looks today,? said head coach Laurie Pirtle, ?and, after a slow start, we hit those looks. The kids have been working hard on their outside shooting in practice and it paid off today.?
The win was UC?s second-straight, raising its record to 7-14 overall and 2-6 in the league. The Golden Eagles dropped to 14-7 overall and 5-3 in C-USA.
Edwina Williams also set a career high with 10 points and grabbed a game-high six rebounds. Micah Harvey handed out a career-best 12 assists, one short of the school record and one more than her previous high set against Marquette last year.
Karen Twehues, who made 4-of-7 three-pointers, and Anne Stephens each scored 14 points. Twehues? career-best five assists helped UC to a season-high 22 against just 13 turnovers. Four Bearcats had at least four rebounds to earn a 31-24 advantage on the boards.
Lesley Juedes led MU with 19 points with five three-pointers and Christina Quaye recorded 16 points and six rebounds. The Golden Eagles also shot well, making 46 percent of their shots from the field, 7-of-16 three-pointers and 16-of-17 free throws.
Remarkably, both offenses started sluggish, as the score was 2-2 after seven minutes of play before Quaye hit a three-pointer. A triple by Juedes extended the MU lead to 12-8 with 9:56 to go.
UC responded by scoring the next nine points, including the first of Twehues? three first-half treys. After MU ended the run, Bellva May scored four-straight points to make the lead 21-14 with 6:19 remaining.
The lead reached nine when Twehues hit another three-pointer and May drained a jumper at the 3:30 mark. The Bearcats earned their biggest lead of the game with a 7-0 run that pushed the advantage to 35-21 with 1:17 to go.
Marquette, which made only five field goals in the half after Juedes? triple, scored four points in the final 1:05 to make the halftime score 37-25.
The Bearcats started the game making one of their first 10 shots, but made 14 of their final 21 to shoot 48 percent for the half compared to 41 percent for the Golden Eagles. UC forced 10 turnovers and scored 12 points off them.
Twehues led all scorers at the break with 11 points, while Stephens and May each had eight. Harvey dished out eight assists and Ashley Brown grabbed a team-high four rebounds.
Quaye led Marquette with eight points and Juedes, with three, was the only Golden Eagle with more than one rebound. UC held a 17-10 advantage on the boards.
Marquette came out fast in the second half, opening with threes from Quaye and Juedes to key a 10-0 run. Twehues drilled a triple for UC, but Juedes answered with one of her own and Carolyn Kieger scored a lay-up to tie the game at 40-40 with 15:22 to go.
The Bearcats refused to fall behind, however, as Slaughter hit back-to-back threes and Williams hit a jumper to push the lead to 48-40.
Jasmine McCullough scored the next five points to cut the lead back to three, but UC scored nine of the next 11 points, including another three from Slaughter, to gain a 57-47 lead with 8:26 remaining.
MU got within five points twice after that, but the Bearcats answered each time. Juedes hit her final trey make the score 69-62 with two minutes left, but UC made 10-of-12 free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
?They came at us hard in the second half,? said Pirtle, ?but we regrouped, stayed together and hit our foul shots when it counted.?
The Bearcats face their second ranked opponent of the season when they host No. 17 DePaul on Monday night, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.