TicketsDec. 2, 2005
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Cincinnati vs. Eastern Illinois
Date: Saturday, December 3, 2005
Time: 7:30 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176); Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati:3-1; Eastern Illinois:0-4
TV:None
Radio: www.Bearcast.UC.edu
Live Stats: www.UCBearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, 513-556-CATS
Series: Tied, 2-2
Last Meeting: Dec. 7, 1996 in Columbia, Mo.; UC 62, EIU 52
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team returns home to face Eastern Illinois on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats are 3-1 and looking to rebound from their first loss of the year at the hands of crosstown rival Xavier. The EIU Panthers are still seeking their first win after falling, 80-78, in overtime to Butler in their home-opener on Wednesday.
STORYLINES:
Two weeks after the UC men won the 1,500th game in program history, the women will be out for the 500th win in their annals.
The Bearcats' roster features five freshmen and four sophomores, while EIU carries six freshmen.
Three freshmen will start for each team and three Bearcats are among the top four scorers on the team.
The Bearcats have posted a double-digit rebounding margin in each game, while the Panthers are averaging a -11 margin.
UC has scored over 70 points in three of four games, equaling the number of times that happened all last season.
The all-time series between the school is tied a two wins apiece. UC won the only meeting in Fifth Third Arena.
The Panthers are 0-4 on the year after dropping their home-opener to Butler in overtime, 80-78, on Wednesday. Senior guard Megan Sparks is averaging 19 points per game for EIU.
EIU head coach Brady Sallee attended nearby Thomas More College where he was a student assistant coach for the women's basketball team as well as a four-year letterwinner on the baseball team.
NOTING THE XAVIER GAME:
The Bearcats suffered their first loss of the year and fell to Xavier on consecutive seasons for the first time since 1993-1994.
Kahla Roudebush scored a career-high 16 points and equaled her best with four rebounds.
UC held a double-digit edge in rebounding for the fourth game.
The Bearcats were held under 70 points for the first time this year and allowed more than 60 for the first time.
LAST TIME VS. EASTERN ILLINOIS: In a game that featured seven players who would score more than a 1,000 career points, Cincinnati defeated Eastern Illinois, 62-52, in the third-place game at the Mid-America Classic hosted by Missouri on Dec. 7, 1996. UC used a 16-0 run over a six minute period in the first half to build a 28-10 lead. The Bearcats led by 21 with nine minutes left before the Panthers closed to five with a 21-5 run. UC's Stephanie Geter led all scorers with 17 points, while Jolinda Lewis made four three-pointers en route to 16 points and All-Tournament Team honors. Doris Scott grabbed 15 rebounds for the Bearcats and Allison Lee led the Panthers with 13 points.
LAST TIME IN FIFTH THIRD ARENA: UC picked up its first victory of the year with a 63-44 win over Eastern Illinois on Nov. 28, 1995. The Bearcats scored 32 points off 26 Panther turnovers and held EIU to 35 percent shooting. Mindy Ballinger led UC with 17 points and five assists, while Doris Scott had 10 points and six rebounds. Barbora Garbova led EIU with 12 points.
APPROACHING MILESTONE: The Bearcats are approaching the 500th win in school history with a 499-439 record. The 499 wins are the seventh-most among BIG EAST schools.
OFFENSIVE BEARCATS: UC has scored over 70 points in three of four games this year, equaling the number of times that happened all last season and marking the first time since Feb. 2003 that the Bearcats crossed 70 in three-straight games. The 71.8 scoring average compares to the 59.8 average after four games last year and the 57.1 points per game for the season. UC is shooting .427 from the field and .763 from the line compared to .382 and .662 last year.
ATTACKING THE BOARDS: The Bearcats have dominated the rebounding category in their first four games, averaging a +17 margin. Even in the one loss, UC owned a 10-board advantage. Led by Jill Stephens' 16, UC has 72 offensive rebounds in four games and allowed just 40. This has resulted in the Bearcats averaging 16 second chance points per game.
GETTING TO THE LINE: Last year UC averaged just 14.7 free throw attempts per game and shot just .662 from the line. This year has gotten off to a much improved start as the Bearcats are averaging 23.3 attempts per game and making an outstanding .763 of them. At this pace UC would dwarf the school record free throw percentage (.746).
CHANGE OF PACE: The Bearcats relied heavily on the three-point shot last year as 29 percent of the field goals and 26 percent of the scoring came from three-pointers. This season just 16 percent of the shots and 13 percent of the points are coming from behind the arc. Despite this UC is averaging 14.7 more points per game thanks to improved field goal (.382 to .427) and free throw (.662 to .763) shooting.
HIGHLY TOUTED: The Bearcat roster features five freshmen -- Shelly Bellman, Michelle Jones, Angel Morgan, Kahla Roudebush and Jill Stephens -- who make up what was ranked as the 10th best recruiting class in 2005 by the All-Star Girls Report. All five were listed among the top 125 players in the class and all are living up to the billing.
Bellman has started each game and leads the Bearcats in rebounding (8.3/g) and is second in points, assists and steals.
Jones scored in double-figures in three games, averaging 10.0, and leads the team with a .538 shooting percentage.
Morgan has started the past three games and is third on the team in rebounding (4.8/g) and assists (2.0/g).
Roudebush started the season-opener and poured in a season-high 16 points with four rebounds at Xavier.
Stephens has started each game and is second on the team in rebounding (5.8/g) and fourth in scoring (9.3/g). Against Detroit she posted her first double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
FULL SPEED AHEAD: Junior Treasure Humphries led UC in steals as a freshman and was fourth on the team in scoring. Last year she tore her ACL in the preseason and despite coming back after just four months, was not herself the rest of the year. This year she is off to a flying start, leading the team in scoring (13.8/g), assists (3.0/g) and steals (2.8/g). She set career-highs with 19 points and eight rebounds against East Tennessee State and followed that up with another 19 points in the win over Detroit.
UNQUESTIONED LEADER: Head Coach Laurie Pirtle, in her 20th year, is UC's all-time leader in coaching wins and on Feb. 21, 2002, she earned her 250th win leading the Bearcats. She is one of six BIG EAST 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.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 153-82 (.651) on their home court. Over the past nine years they have a home record of 106-28 (.791). 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.
EXPERIENCED CATS: The Bearcats entered last season with just 71 games of starting experience, with 49 of those coming from Anne Stephens and Micah Harvey. They entered this year boasting 154 returning starts spread among seven players. Harvey led with 44 and Stephens had 36 starts. The nine returners combined for 350 games of playing experience.
YET STILL YOUNG: Despite those 350 games played, the UC roster still boasts nine players who are freshmen or sophomores. The five true freshmen on the squad were named the 10th best recruiting class of 2005 by the All-Star Girls Report.
ROAD WEARY: Of UC's last 46 losses, 30 have occurred away from Cincinnati. UC has lost 22 of its last 27 road games and 11 of the last 12. The Bearcats averaged 10.1 fewer points scored on the road last year than at home.
CHANGE HAS NOT BEEN GOOD: The Bearcats are hoping to avoid the letdown that has occurred the other three times they began play in a new conference. In 1983-84, UC went 16-12, but won just three of 10 Metro Conference games. 1991-92 saw the Bearcats repeat that 3-7 mark in their initial year in the Great Midwest Conference while going 11-17 overall. In Conference USA's inaugural season, 1995-96, UC went 4-10 in the new league and 8-19 overall.
STRONG SCHEDULE: The Bearcats will play 13 games this year against teams that reached the postseason in 2005. Included in the strong home schedule are match-ups with Elite 8 finisher Rutgers, 2001 national champion Notre Dame and regional rivals Louisville, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Currently four 2005-06 opponents -- No. 6 Rutgers, No. 8 Connecticut, No. 11 Notre Dame and No. 14 DePaul -- are ranked in the top 25 and three others are getting votes in at least one of the polls. Cincinnati's 2005-06 opponents compiled a 426-361 record in 2004-05 for a .541 winning percentage.
SISTER ACT: Sisters Anne (Sr.) and Jill (Fr.) Stephens are one of 14 sets of siblings playing together in Division I in 2005-06. At 6-4 and 6-3 in height, they are tied with the Adiar twins (George Washington) and Paris twins (Oklahoma) for the tallest sibling duo in the nation. Anne was named Conference USA Sixth Player of the Year last year, while Jill was ranked as one of the top 50 players in her class.
COACHES FAVOR SCARLET KNIGHTS: In the annual preseason poll of the league's coaches, Rutgers was picked to win the BIG EAST in 2005-06, narrowly edging Connecticut. Rutgers guard Cappie Pondexter was named the preseason Player of the Year. The Bearcats were picked to finish 15th, just behind Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
TOP 10 CATS: Seniors Anne Stephens and Micah Harvey and junior Karen Twehues are seeing the results of their careers in the UC record books. Stephens now has 48 career blocks to rank ninth in school history. Harvey has handed out 324 assists in her career, which is seventh all-time. Harvey's 135 assists as a sophomore was the eighth-best single-season total in UC history. Twehues has made 91 three-pointers in just 50 career games to move into fifth in UC annals.
TRADITION OF SUCCESS: Last year broke a string of seven-straight postseason appearances for the Bearcats. This era accounted for all but two of the postseason appearances in school history. Four of the seven were to the WNIT, including 2004. Cincinnati has also enjoyed 20-win seasons in five of the last eight years and winning years in seven of the last nine.
NEW FACES: Cincinnati moves to the BIG EAST Conference this year. The Bearcats have a 60-71 record (.458) vs. current members of the BIG EAST. They have never played Connecticut, Georgetown, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall or Villanova.
UP NEXT: The Bearcats are off for exam week before hosting Fordham on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.