TicketsJan. 18, 2006
CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Bearcats cut an 18-point deficit to two in the second half, but could not hang on as St. John's topped Cincinnati, 88-80, in BIG EAST women's basketball action on Wednesday night in Fifth Third Arena. Freshman Shelly Bellman did all she could for UC, scoring a career-high 28 points with five assists, four rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Ahead 44-33 at the half, St. John's extended the lead to 63-45 with 13:28 to play. That was when Bellman ignited a 16-0 Bearcat run over the next 4:32. She had two three-pointers and a jumper in the stretch to close to 63-61 with 9:21 left.
SJU responded with the next seven points, but UC pulled within four twice more, the last time with 32 seconds left when Treasure Humphries scored and made steal to lead to a Bellman lay-in. The Red Storm, however, made 6-of-8 free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice the game.
"Shelly really, really fired us up to get us back in the game," said head coach Laurie Pirtle. "Her fire makes a difference and we are counting on her to be a leader."
"We lacked intensity in the first half," she added. "We weren't taking care of the little things and gave up too many easy scores."
The Bearcats fell to 11-5 overall and 1-4 in the BIG EAST, while SJU is now 14-3, 4-2.
After Bellman, Michelle Jones scored 13 with a team-high six rebounds and Anne Stephens had 10. The Bearcats shot .468 from the field and were 7-of-15 from behind the arc, but committed 25 turnovers and were outrebounded for just the fourth time this year.
Five Red Storm players were in double-figures, led by Tara Walker with 20. Angela Clark and Kia Wright had 16 apiece and Danielle Chambers had 10 points and 10 rebounds. SJU shot .593 from the field despite making just 2-of-10 three-pointers. They held a 50 to 22 edge in points in the paint.
The Bearcats are next in action on Saturday when they travel to take on Syracuse in the Carrier Dome at 1 p.m.
The first half featured five lead changes and a number of runs before SJU took control before the half. A three-pointer by Bellman gave the Bearcats a 5-0 lead before the red Storm scored 10 of the next 12 points to claim an 8-7 lead at the 15:46 mark.
Bellman, who had nine points at the break, scored the first four points of an 8-0 run for UC to go back ahead by five. Wright then notched four of her 10 first-half points in an 8-0 run by SJU to go up 20-17 with 11:07 left.
Back-to-back scores by Stephens started another 8-0 stretch for the Bearcats, which was immediately countered nine-straight Red Storm to produce a 29-25 lead with 6:30 remaining.
Micah Harvey tied the game with a three-pointer with 5:40 left, but UC scored just two more field goals in the rest of the half. Wright scored six points and Walker made a three-pointer as SJU ended the half on a 13-2 run to take a 44-33 lead into the lockerroom.
The visitors shot 62.1 percent from the field as Wright added six assists and four rebounds to her 10 points. Walker had nine and Greeba Barlow and Clark each added eight. SJU owned a 32-8 edge in points in the paint and scored 20 points off of 15 UC turnovers.
Jones had eight points and three rebounds for the Bearcats and Bellman added four assists and two steals to her nine points as leading scorer Humphries played just three minutes due to foul trouble. UC shot 46.9 from the field and were outscored from the foul line, 7-1.