TicketsDec. 8, 2005
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Cincinnati vs. Fordham
Date: Sunday, December 11, 2005
Time: 2 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176) Cincinnati, Ohio
Records: Cincinnati: 4-1; Fordham: 3-3
TV: None
Radio: www.Bearcast.UC.edu
Live Stats: www.UCBearcats.com
Tickets: $5/$3, 513-556-CATS
Series: First Meeting
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team returns from a week off to host the Fordham Rams on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats are 4-1 on the year and feature a high-scoring offense that has surpassed 70 points in each of their four wins. The Rams enter the contest 3-3 on the year following a loss to Delaware on Wednesday.
STORYLINES:
The Bearcats' roster features five freshmen and four sophomores, while Fordham carries just three freshmen and two sophomores. UC will start three freshmen while FU will start two seniors and a graduate student.
UC's five freshmen have scored 55 percent of the points for the team and grabbed 50 percent of the rebounds.
The Bearcats lead the nation with a +19.6 rebounding margin, posting a double-digit margin in each game. Fordham enters with a -6.3 rebounding margin.
UC has scored over 70 points in four of five games, surpassing the three times that happened all last season.
Fordham is 3-3 on the year and 1-2 on the road. Lisa Carrol is the leading the team scoring 15.3 points per game and Daniela Roark is 17th in the nation making 3.2 three-pointers per game.
The Bearcats and Rams have never met before. UC will be the fourth BIG EAST team FU has played, having beaten Providence and Georgetown and lost to West Virginia.
NOTING THE EASTERN ILLINOIS GAME:
UC recorded the 500th win in program history, becoming the seventh BIG EAST school to reach the milestone.
Angel Morgan recorded a career-high six assists, the most by any Bearcat this year, and Shelly Bellman made a career-best three steals.
UC held a double-digit edge in rebounding for the fifth game with a season high margin of +30.
The Bearcats equaled their season-high with 82 points while attempting a season-low five three-pointers.
ATTACKING THE BOARDS: The Bearcats have dominated the rebounding category in their first five games, averaging a +19.6 margin, tops in the nation. Even in the one loss, UC owned a 10-board advantage. Led by Jill Stephens' 17, UC has 93 offensive rebounds in five games and allowed just 43. This has resulted in the Bearcats averaging 16.4 second chance points per game and allowing just 6.2
REACHING A MILESTONE: The Bearcats' win over Eastern Illinois on Dec. 3 was the 500th victory in school history. With an all-time record of 500-439 record, UC has the seventh-most wins among BIG EAST schools.
OFFENSIVE BEARCATS: UC has scored over 70 points in four of five games this year, surpassing the three times that it happened all last season. The 73.8 scoring average compares to the 61.2 average after four games last year and the 57.1 points per game for the season. UC is shooting .434 from the field and .765 from the line compared to .382 and .662 last year.
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 23.8 attempts per game and making an outstanding .765 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 14 percent of the shots and 11 percent of the points are coming from behind the arc. Despite this UC is averaging 16.7 more points per game thanks to improved field goal (.382 to .434) and free throw (.662 to .765) 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 (7.4/g) and is second in points and steals and third in assists.
Jones has scored in double-figures in four games, averaging 10.0 points and shooting .515 from the field.
Morgan has started three games and is fourth on the team in rebounding (4.6/g) and second in assists (2.8/g).
Roudebush has started two games 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 (5.0/g) and fourth in scoring (9.4/g). Against Detroit she posted her first double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
HOME SWEET HOME: Since Fifth Third Arena became the home of UC basketball in 1989, the Bearcats have gone 154-82 (.653) on their home court. Over the past nine years they have a home record of 107-28 (.793). 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.
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 (13.0/g), assists (3.2/g) and steals (2.4/g) and ranking second in rebounding (5.0/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.
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. 10 Notre Dame and No. 11 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.
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 93 three-pointers in just 51 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.
UP NEXT: The Bearcats host Texas-Arlington on Wednesday, Dec. 14 at 4 p.m. in Fifth Third Arena.