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Bearcats Look to Bounce Back From First Conference Loss

Bearcats Look to Bounce Back From First Conference LossBearcats Look to Bounce Back From First Conference Loss

Jan. 16, 2009

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UC LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK FROM FIRST CONFERENCE LOSS
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team will look to rebound from its first conference loss, a 71-70 setback against Syracuse on Jan. 10, when it welcomes Seton Hall to Fifth Third Arena for a 7 p.m. tip on Saturday, Jan. 17.

THE SERIES
Seton Hall leads the series, 2-1. The teams never played prior to UC joining the BIG EAST. The Bearcats won the first meeting, 77-58 in New Jersey, but SHU has won the last two, including a 58-57 win in Fifth Third Arena on Jan. 20, 2007 and a 54-43 victory in the BIG EAST opener for both teams last season.

THE COACH
J. Kelley Hall is in 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 314-138 overall record and a 110-82 Division I head coaching ledger.

  • Junior guard Kahla Roudebush, who led the Bearcats in scoring last season with 16.5 points per game, again tops the UC scorers, averaging an identical 16.5 per game. She has scored 20 or more five times and has averaged 23.2 points over her last five games.
  • UC's 61-54 win against Villanova marked the first time the Bearcats won a conference opener as a member of the BIG EAST (since 2005). With its 65-55 win against No. 21/23 Xavier on Dec. 7, UC knocked off a Top 25 opponent for the first time since a 62-44 win against No. 24/24 DePaul on Jan. 14, 2007.
  • UC ranks 22nd in the nation in scoring defense (as of NCAA Statistics Reports through 1/11/09). The Bearcats lead the nation in personal fouls permitted per game and also rank ninth in turnovers per contest.
  • 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 24 at Cincinnati.
  • Senior forward Jill Stephens is shooting .536 from the floor, .481 from beyond the three-point line, and .840 from the free throw line this season, marks that would each rank in the Top 10 in school single-season history.

BEARCATS APPEAR IN POLLS

  • The Bearcats received votes in the Dec. 8 Associated Press Top 25 poll after its victory against No. 21/23 Xavier.
  • The last time UC found itself in the Top 25 was in the AP and coaches polls on Dec. 9, 2002. The Bearcats were No. 25 in each poll.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Chandrea Jones hit a free throw with seven seconds left to give Syracuse (13-3, 2-1 BIG EAST) its second straight BIG EAST win.
  • Kahla Roudebush led four UC players in double figures, scoring 21 points and connecting on three three-pointers. She has scored 20 or more in four of her last five games.
  • Shelly Bellman tallied 16 points, including four threes, and Jill Stephens dropped in 13 points. Angel Morgan posted her second career double-double, scoring 10 points and adding a game-high 13 rebounds.
  • UC knocked down 12 three-pointers, one shy of a school record, and outrebounded the Orange, 40-35.

SEND ME AN ANGEL

  • Senior guard Angel Morgan started the season as an energy player coming off the bench, but has won a starting spot.
  • In 14 starts this season, she is averaging 6.6 points and 8.4 rebounds.
  • A 5-8 guard, she leads the team in rebounding with 7.3 per contest.
  • Morgan grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds in UC's win against Mississippi Valley State and recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds against IUPUI. She scored 10 points and added 13 rebounds for her second double-double against Syracuse.
  • She has five double-digit rebounding efforts this season.
  • She was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Dec. 14.

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.
  • With six threes against Saint Francis (Pa.), Roudebush moved into fifth place in school history with 102 triples.
  • Roudebush has scored 23.2 points per game over her last five, shooting 49 percent from the floor, 47 percent from behind the arc, and 93 percent from the free throw line during that span.
  • She was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Jan. 4.
  • She has five 20-plus point games this season.
  • She leads the squad with a 16.5 points per game average and scored a career-high 29 points against Kentucky, including five treys.
  • Roudebush missed the bulk of the 2006-07 season after shoulder and knee injuries.

TENACIOUS `D'

  • UC ranks 22nd in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 54.2 points per game.
  • The Bearcats held their first 10 opponents to under 60 points, allowing an average of 51.5 points per game during that span.
  • Michigan became the first team to score more than 60 points against UC since Syracuse in a 66-56 win on Feb. 23, 2008, a span of 12 games.
  • UC's match-up zone defense, a staple for any J. Kelley Hall-coached team, has stifled opponents, holding them to 36 percent shooting and nearly 16 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. She is averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds this season.
  • Jones, a 6-1 post, returns after missing the 2007-08 season. She is a 9.2 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 (198-184).

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 averaging 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest this season.
  • Stephens posted her first double-double of the season on Jan. 7 at West Virginia, dropping in 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. She had 10 double-doubles last season.
  • Stephens is shooting 54 percent from the floor, 48 percent from the three-point line and leads the team at 84 percent from the free throw line.

TAKING THE LEAD

  • UC has been a strong first-half team thus far, taking a lead into the locker room in 11 of its first 16 contests.