TicketsBearcats Close Home Season on Sunday
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
2/19/2005
Toni Slaughter has 21 rebounds in the last two games. |
GAME FACTS:
Date: Sun., Feb. 20, 2005
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati, 8-17 (3-9 C-USA)
Southern Miss, 9-16 (3-9 C-USA)
Radio: www.bearcast.uc.edu
TV: None
Live Stats: www.UCBearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, (513) 556-CATS
Series: USM leads, 13-11
Last Meeting: Feb. 13, 2004 at USM
UC 77, USM 64
SETTING THE SCENE: Cincinnati's home season comes to a close on Sunday, Feb. 20 when the Bearcats host Southern Miss at 2 p.m. UC is a win from clinching a spot in the Conference USA Tournament and is currently tied for 11th with the Lady Eagles with a 3-9 mark. The Bearcats' 55-41 win over Tulane on Friday raised their record to 8-17 on the year. Seniors Crystal Ashley, Leslie Knoch, Sara Piepho and Edwina Williams will be honored in a postgame ceremony.
CINCINNATI PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 1 Ashley Brown, 6-0 Fr., Wilberforce, Ohio 4.2 4.8 0.8 .398
F 14 Emy Ogide, 6-2 Fr., Rockmart, Ga. 1.8 1.9 0.1 .514
G 12 Micah Harvey, 5-7 Jr., Sardinia, Ohio 5.8 1.8 4.6 .295
G 13 Toni Slaughter, 6-0 So., Shelbyville, Ky. 9.7 6.4 1.7 .339
G 32 Karen Twehues, 6-0 So., Minusio, Switz. 9.7 2.6 1.2 .350
SOUTHERN MISS PROBABLE STARTERS PPG RPG APG FG%
F 11 Deondra Carter, 5-11 So., Pearl River, La. 11.2 4.3 1.2 .422
F 14 Emer Foley, 5-11 Fr., Bray, Ireland 7.4 5.9 0.5 .404
F 20 Shannon Stueber, 5-10 Fr., The Colony, Texas 14.7 3.3 1.6 .388
G 2 Dianca Jones, 5-8 So., Columbus, Miss. 9.9 4.0 2.8 .361
G 4 Kelsey Gurganus, 5-10 Fr., Indianapolis, Ind. 3.2 2.2 2.0 .289
STORYLINES:
? The Bearcats are currently tied with Southern Miss for 11th in C-USA, one game ahead of Saint Louis and Tulane. The top 12 teams make the C-USA Tournament and UC has never failed to reach the tourney in the nine years of the league.
? UC closes the regular season at second-place Louisville on Feb. 25. The 2005 Pepsi Conference USA Women's Basketball Tournament opens on March 3 in Charlotte.
? The Bearcats and Southern Miss have faced 12 common opponents: Houston, TCU, Memphis, Saint Louis, DePaul, Marquette, Charlotte, East Carolina, UAB, USF, Louisville and Tulane. Both teams are 3-9.
? USM has won 13 of the 24 meetings between the schools, but UC has taken the last four and seven of the last nine.
? The Bearcats and Lady Eagles are two of most inexperienced teams in the nation. UC features nine of 13 players in their first or second year with the team. All 12 of USM's players entered the year with one season or less experience.
? UC stands five wins from reaching the 500-win mark in program history.
FAN CARAVAN: Former Bearcat head coach Sandy Smith is organizing a fan caravan to see UC's regular season finale on Feb. 25 at Louisville. Those interested in joining her should meet in the Olive Garden parking lot at the Florence (Ky.) Mall at 5 p.m. Call 513-518-1596 for more information.
LAST TIME VS. SOUTHERN MISS: Valerie King scored 22 points to lead UC to a 77-64 victory and become the second women?s basketball player in UC history to score 2,000 career points on Feb. 13, 2004. Cincinnati jumped out to a 24-4 lead and took a 43-17 lead into halftime. The Bearcats went to the charity line 30 times in the second half and six total players fouled out of the game. Toni Slaughter added 15 points and nine rebounds for UC. Deondra Carter led USM with 21 points and Denise Wilson (13 points, 12 rebounds) had a double-double.
LAST TIME IN CINCINNATI: Valerie King surpassed the 1,500-point mark and Debbie Merrill (11 points, 12 rebounds) and Carolyn Alexander (20 points, 10 rebounds) posted double-doubles as UC topped Southern Miss, 63-51, on Jan. 31, 2003. UC held USM to 36 percent shooting in the first half and took a 32-22 lead into halftime. Southern Miss never closed within single-digits in the second half, despite shooting 52.2 percent in the stanza. Allison Story and La'Tasha Summerall led the Lady Eagles with 11 points apiece.
NOTING THE TULANE GAME:
? UC defeated the Green Wave for the first time since the 2002 C-USA Tournament championship.
? Laurie Pirtle coached her 550th game at UC.
? Anne Stephens reached 20 points for the third time in the last six games.
? Karen Twehues equalled her career best with three steals.
? UC allowed no three-pointers for the first time since last year's C-USA Tourney first round win over USF.
HOT CAT: Anne Stephens has been carrying UC in recent weeks. Stephens has averaged 16.4 points and 7.0 rebounds in the last seven games and shot .593 (48-81) from the field. She scored a career-high 24 points in the win over Memphis, making 10-of-14 shots from the field, and recorded her fifth career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds at Charlotte.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP: In the middle of UC's recent struggles, Laurie Pirtle turned to senior Edwina Williams, who is a favorite among her teammates but had played in only 10 games in her two and a half seasons of eligibility. Williams responded in the next six games, averaging 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 points in 19.2 minutes per game. She tallied 10 points and six rebounds in the win over Marquette and earned the first starts of her career against East Carolina and Charlotte.
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 80-66 (.548) in the 10-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.
HITTING THE BOARDS: UC has only lost the rebounding battle in two of the last seven games after being outrebounded in 10 of the first 18. In those seven games the Bearcats have a rebounding margin of +6.3 and have posted all three of their league wins.
TALE OF TWO HALVES: The Bearcats have been outscored in the first half of games by only three total points in 25 games. In the second half, however, UC has been outscored by 112 points, a 4.5 point per game average.
HOT AND COLD: In the space of three games, the Bearcats posted their best offensive game of the year and worst offensive game in 10 years. They set a season-high for points in the 79-69 win over Marquette on Feb. 5, shooting .467 from the floor, .529 from three and .875 from the line. On Feb. 11, UC managed just 31 points in the loss at East Carolina, shooting .214 from the floor, .111 from three and .556 from the line.
JOINING AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB: Karen Twehues has made 54 three-pointers this year, seven short of eighth-place in UC's single-season records. Once there, she will break up the monopoly of Valerie King and Jolinda Lewis on the list as that pair owns the top eight seasons in school history.
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 and DePaul's Doug Bruno are the only C-USA coaches with at least 275 wins at their current school. On Feb. 20, 2004 against East Carolina Pirtle became the 54th active coach to win 350 games in a career.
SHUFFLING IT UP: In the past 14 games UC has used seven different starting lineups, due to injuries and performance. Only one of those has been used more than twice. 11 of the 13 players on the Bearcat roster have started at least one game this year.
HELP OFF THE BENCH: In the last 13 games UC has averaged 56.5 points per game and nearly half, 27.1, have come from the bench. Anne Stephens has averaged a team-best 13.1 points per game in this span and Bellva May has had three double-digit scoring games, both as reserves.
TOP 10 CATS: Juniors Anne Stephens and Micah Harvey and sophomore Karen Twehues are seeing the results of their careers in the UC record books. Stephens now has 44 career blocks to rank ninth in school history. Harvey has handed out 311 assists in her career, which is seventh all-time by a Bearcat. Harvey's 135 assists last season was the eighth-best single-season total in UC history. Twehues has made 82 three-pointers in just 44 career games to move into fifth in UC annals.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: UC currently has played the 29th-toughest schedule as ranked by the WBCA/Summerville RPI. The Bearcats' schedule, which features 14 games this year against teams that reached the postseason in 2004, was ranked as the 38th toughest prior to the season. UC's 2004-05 opponents had a combined 438-326 record for a .573 winning percentage last year.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: Now in its 34th season of play, UC has won 495 games. The Bearcats who began the year vying to become the first women's teams in Conference USA to reach 500 all-time victories. Houston and Southern Miss accomplished the feat in the past two weeks. Louisville (497) and East Carolina (496) are just ahead of UC.
BALANCED ATTACK: UC has gotten contributions from a number of different sources offensively. Six different players have led UC in scoring and nine different players have recorded a total of 61 double-digit scoring games. The Marquette game last Saturday was the fifth this season in which four Bearcats reached double-figures.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 149-82 (.645) on their home court. Over the past seven years they have a home record of 102-28 (.785). 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.
ART OF THE STEAL: Junior reserve Bellva May leads UC in steals with 38 and has recorded 21 in the last 11 games. She has had four games with at least four steals. Micah Harvey is second on the team with 33, surpassing her career best of 22.
ROAD WEARY: Of UC's last 44 losses, 28 have occurred away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 20 of its last 25 road games and nine of the last 10. The Bearcats have averaged 11.0 fewer points scored on the road this year than at home.
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.
RAPID RETURN: Sophomore Treasure Humphries underwent surgery for a torn ACL in late August and exceeded all expectations by making it back to the court in a little under four months. UC's steals leader and fourth-leading scorer last year, she made her debut at Middle Tennessee State on Dec. 29 and scored eight points in 11 minutes with two steals. Humphries averaged 7.8 points in her first four games with a high of 11 points at USF.
EMERGING EMY: Freshman Emy Ogide (pronounced A-mee O-giday) played in just three of the first six games, recording one point and one rebound. Pressed into extended action against Xavier because of injuries, she responded with two points, three rebounds and two blocks. She has played in all 18 games since and started the last 13, winning 11 of 13 jump balls. She had a career day against Arkansas, setting new bests with eight points, nine rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
SIDELINED AGAIN: Leslie Knoch, who missed 39 games over her first two seasons due to injuries, has been bitten by the bug again. She is currently out indefinitely with a stress fracture. A leader on and off the court, she was having a career year before the injury. She is one of four team captains and has started 16 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 ranked 13th in C-USA in three-pointers made (1.35/g) and 11th in three-point percentage (.333) when she left the lineup.
YOUTH MOVEMENT: The Bearcats opened the season with a combined total of 71 games of starting experience. Anne Stephens (25) and Micah Harvey (24) accounted for 49 of those. 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.
UP NEXT: UC closes its regular season on Friday, Feb. 25 at rival Louisville. The game is at 7 p.m. at Cardinal Arena.