Bearcats Welcome No. 23/21 Musketeers for 2008 Skyline Chili Women's Crosstown Shootout

Dec. 6, 2008

Game Notes | |

2008 SKYLINE CHILI WOMEN'S CROSSTOWN SHOOTOUT RETURNS TO FIFTH THIRD ARENA
The 2008 Skyline Chili Women's Crosstown Shootout is set for Sunday, Dec. 7, as the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team welcomes No. 23/21 Xavier to Fifth Third Arena for a 2 p.m. tipoff. The game will be televised live on Fox Sports Ohio.

THE SERIES
The crosstown rivalry has been contested 30 times, with the Bearcats holding a 21-9 lead in the series. UC snapped a three-game losing streak against the Musketeers with a 61-55 win at Cintas Center last season. UC has won nine of the last 12 meetings. The last time the game was played in Fifth Third Arena, the Bearcats and Musketeers played in front of a sellout crowd of 13,176, the largest to see a regular-season women's basketball game in Cincinnati history.

THE COACH
J. Kelley Hall enters his second season at Cincinnati after being named the seventh head coach in school history on April 4, 2007. Hall previously held the top spot at Louisiana-Lafayette, earning Sun Belt Coach of the Year honors in 2004-05. He is the winningest coach in ULL history and led the 2006-07 team to the NCAA Tournament, the first in school history. Hall has held assistant positions at Alabama, Mississippi State, Auburn, Cal State Fullerton, and Louisville. He was the head coach at a pair of junior colleges early in his career, leading Gordon College in 1984-85 and spending seven seasons at Truett-McConnel College. He holds a 307-136 overall record and a 103-80 Division I head coaching ledger.

• The Bearcats snapped a four-game winning streak with a 59-56 loss against Dayton on Wednesday. It was the first UC loss at home this season.
• The Bearcats welcome back two players who missed all of 2007-08 in juniors Shelly Bellman and Michelle Jones.
• UC returns four starters from last season and 78 percent of its minutes played, 81 percent of its scoring, and 86 percent of its rebounding.
• Junior guard Kahla Roudebush is the Bearcats' leading returning scorer, averaging 16.5 points per outing in 2007-08 and finishing in the Top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring, three-point field goal percentage, and three-pointers per game.
• J. Kelley Hall won his 100th game as a Division I head coach when the Bearcats topped Toledo, 60-59, on Nov. 23. Hall won 86 games at the helm of Louisiana Lafayette and has won 17 at Cincinnati.
• Freshman point guard Shanasa Sanders will be relied upon heavily with the absence of junior Stephanie Stevens. Sanders has started each of the first six games of the season, averaging 29.7 minutes and 6.6 points.

FRIEND OR FOE?

• UC head coach J. Kelley Hall and Xavier coach Kevin McGuff are longtime friends off the court - each appeared in the other's wedding - but on Sunday, they will sqaure off against one another.
• Hall holds the bragging rights between them, having beaten McGuff's Xavier squad last season, 61-55, in Cintas Center.

LAST TIME OUT

• The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team dropped a 59-56 decision against Dayton on Dec. 3 in Fifth Third Arena.
• The Flyers, paced by Casey Nance's 15 rebounds, won the battle of the boards, holding a commanding 46-33 advantage.
• Despite the disparity in rebounding, the Bearcats were in the game thanks to a defense that forced 18 turnovers and held the Flyers to 36 percent shooting (21-58). UC has not allowed an opponent to score 60 points this season.
• Kahla Roudebush and Angel Morgan scored nine points apiece to pace the Bearcats.

ROUDEBUSH PICKS UP WHERE SHE LEFT OFF

• Junior sharpshooter Kahla Roudebush made her mark on the UC record books last season with her three-point shooting. She led the Bearcats in 2007-08, scoring 16.5 points per game and knocking down 66 triples.
• She leads the squad with a 13.3 points per game average and scored a career-high 29 against Kentucky, including five treys.
• Roudebush missed the bulk of the 2006-07 season after shoulder and knee injuries.

TENACIOUS `D'

• The Bearcats have held their first seven opponents to under 60 points, allowing an average of 51.6 points per game. UC's match-up zone defense, a staple for any J. Kelley Hall-coached team, has stifled opponents, holding them to 35 percent shooting and an average of nearly 19 turnovers per game.

GUESS WHO'S BACK

• Juniors Shelly Bellman and Michelle Jones, that's who.
• Bellman, a 5-10 guard/forward, missed the entire 2007-08 season after tearing her ACL in preseason practice. She averaged 10.6 points over 57 games during her freshman and sophomore campaigns and led the Bearcats in rebounding in both years, averaging over 6.0 boards per contest.
• Jones, a 6-1 post, returns after missing the 2007-08 season. She is a 9.8 point-per-game scorer in her career and led the team in offensive rebounding in each of her first two seasons. In fact, Jones has more offensive rebounds than defensive boards in her career (184-170).

LITTLE BIT OF OLD, LITTLE BIT OF NEW

• The Bearcats return four starters from a season ago, but welcome five newcomers and two key players return from missing the 2007-08 season.
• J. Kelley Hall and his coaching staff have six players on the roster that they have coached and seven players that are new to the Hall style of basketball (five newcomers and Bellman and Jones, who missed the 2007-08 season).

SUPER STEPHENS

• Senior Jill Stephens is the top returning rebounder for the Bearcats, having grabbed 9.4 boards in 2007-08, which ranked third in the BIG EAST.
• Stephens led the league in minutes played, averaging 37.4 minutes per contest.
• She led the Bearcats in three-point shooting percentage, firing at a .422 clip last season.
• Stephens posted 10 double-doubles in 2007-08.
• She grabbed a career-high and Fifth Third Arena record 14 offensive rebounds against McNeese State last season.

TAKING THE LEAD

• UC has been a strong first-half team thus far, taking a lead into the locker room in six of its first seven contests.

BEARCATS PICKED 15TH IN BIG EAST

• Cincinnati was picked by the league's coaches to finish 15th in the BIG EAST in 2007-08.
• Preseason No. 1/1 Connecticut is the conference favorite, followed by Rutgers and Louisville.

UC SIGNS PAIR

• The Bearcats have signed a pair of prep standouts who will join the squad for the 2009-10 season.
• Daress McClung, a 6-0 guard/forward from Indianapolis, Ind., is a two-year letterwinner at Lawrence North High School. She averaged 14 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 3.0 steals, and 3.0 blocks per game as a junior and helped the Wildcats to conference and sectional titles during her sophomore season.
• Bryonna Snow, a 6-1 forward, is a three-year letterwinner at Blue Springs High School in Blue Springs, Mo. A three-time all-conference and two-time all-city selection, she helped the Wildcats to three conference championships and a district title during her three-year varsity career.