TicketsHumphries Leads UC Into C-USA Tourney
Contact: Geoff Wiswell
2/20/2005
Treasure Humphries' career-best 18 points propelled UC to a C-USA Tourney berth. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Treasure Humphries scored a career-high 18 points to lead Cincinnati to a 66-57 win over Southern Miss in a foul-filled contest in Fifth Third Arena. The win in the Bearcats? final home game of the season clinched their spot in the 2005 Conference USA Tournament, starting on March 3 in Charlotte.
UC (9-17, 4-9 C-USA), which has won four of its last seven games, led by as many as 16 before hanging on in a game with three foul outs and 53 combined fouls.
?It was a hard game to play and a hard game to coach,? said head coach Laurie Pirtle. ?There was no flow to this game at all. Micah (Harvey) and Treasure (Humphries) played very well and Toni (Slaughter) was strong underneath.?
Micah Harvey scored 16 points, making 9-of-11 free throws, and Anne Stephens added 12. Toni Slaughter hit double-digit rebounds for the third-straight game, grabbing 11.
UC held USM (9-17, 3-10 C-USA) to one field goal over the first five minutes of the second half, taking a 39-26 lead on a Humphries triple.
Liz Biland scored six of eight-straight Lady Eagle points to close to 41-34 with 12:11 to go. Humphries then scored the next four points to key an 8-1 run that pushed the lead to 49-35.
A Stephens lay-in with 8:26 to go gave the Bearcats a 15-point lead. That would be UC?s final field goal of the game as the rest of the game was a foul shooting contest.
USM?s stingy defense produced a 13-2 run in a two-minute stretch to close to 57-52 with 3:58 remaining. Deondra Carter had the only field goals in the run, with a three-point play and driving lay up.
Shannon Steuber made one of two free throws with 42 seconds left to pull to 61-57, but UC made five of six foul shots in the final 30 seconds and did not allow another score.
USM shot .381 for the game and was UC?s second-straight opponent without a three-pointer, missing all 10 attempts. Emer Foley had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Steuber scored 15.
UC made just six field goals in the second half, but shot 31 foul shots, making 22. Both teams were 25-of-37 (.676) from the line for the game.
The Bearcats close the regular season on Friday, Feb. 25 when they face Louisville in Cardinal Arena at 7 p.m. ET.
UC turned the ball over on its first three possessions of the game and quickly found itself in a 6-2 hole. Stephens scored consecutive baskets that gave the Bearcats their first lead, 7-6, with 14:00 left.
After USM regained the lead, Karen Twehues scored the first eight points of a 12-2 UC run to pull ahead, 19-10, at the 9:39 mark.
A Kelly Gurganus lay-in pulled USM to 22-17 with 6:18 left, but that would be the last field goal of the half for the Lady Eagles. USM would shoot 10 free throws in the final six minutes, but make just five, while UC got a three from Harvey and four points from Bellva May to take a 31-22 lead into halftime.
UC shot 50 percent in the first half and made 4-of-11 three-pointers. USM was held to .389 shooting and missed all four of its three-point attempts. The Lady Eagles took 16 free throws to the Bearcats? six, with both teams making just half of their attempts.
Foley led all scorers with 13 at the break, seven coming from the line. Twehues led UC with eight points and Humphries had six.