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Bearcats Welcome Marquette for BIG EAST Tilt

Bearcats Welcome Marquette for BIG EAST Tilt

Bearcats Welcome Marquette for BIG EAST TiltBearcats Welcome Marquette for BIG EAST Tilt

Feb. 17, 2009

Game Notes | | |

BEARCATS WELCOME MARQUETTE FOR BIG EAST TILT
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team will look to snap a seven-game losing streak when it welcomes Marquette to Fifth Third Arena for a 7 p.m. tip on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

THE SERIES
Former conference rivals in the Great Midwest and Conference USA, Cincinnati and Marquette have met 28 times on the hardwood. MU won 12 of the first 13 matchups, including a 101-100, overtime win on Jan. 25, 1992, in the first meeting. The Bearcats are 1-3 against the Golden Eagles since both teams joined the BIG EAST in 2005. Last season, MU escaped with a 72-65 win at the Al McGuire Center on Feb. 5.

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 315-145 overall record and a 111-89 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 16.4 per game. She has scored 20 or more eight times this season and ranks eighth in the BIG EAST in scoring.
  • Senior forward Jill Stephens scored a career-high 30 points and added 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season against Providence on Feb. 3. She became the first Bearcat to score 30 or more since the 2003-04 season. She is currently 49 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
  • UC surpassed its victory total from last season (13 to 12) with the win against Seton Hall. The Bearcats earned their third BIG EAST win in their fourth conference game this season. It took UC 16 games to pick up three BIG EAST wins in 2007-08.
  • 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.
  • Senior guard Angel Morgan, who stands 5-8, leads the Bearcats and ranks ninth in the BIG EAST in rebounding at 7.9 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 25 at Cincinnati.

LAST TIME OUT

  • Kahla Roudebush scored 22 points, but the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team fell to No. 10/12 Louisville, 67-52, on Feb. 14 in Fifth Third Arena.
  • Roudebush followed her 25-point effort against Georgetown with 22 more for Cincinnati, but couldn't keep the Bearcats from dropping their seventh straight.
  • The senior guard knocked down four threes and has hit 11 in her last two contests.
  • Angel McCoughtry scored 33 points for the Cardinals, 25 in the second half to help U of L pull away.
  • UC trailed by just two at halftime, 27-25, after falling behind, 40-16, in the first half when the two teams met in Louisville on Jan. 20.
  • Jill Stephens chipped in 10 points and four rebounds, while Angel Morgan grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

BEARCATS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

  • UC is 8-58 all-time against ranked teams.
  • The Bearcats are 0-2 all-time against No. 1 teams. UC lost at No. 1/1 UConn on Jan. 19, 2008 and at home against the No. 1/1 Huskies on Jan. 24, 2009.
  • The Bearcats knocked off No. 21/23 Xavier, 65-55, on Dec. 7, 2008.
  • The Bearcats are 1-4 against ranked opponents this season.

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 again leads the Bearcats in scoring at 16.4 points per game and has knocked down 56 three-pointers, shooting at a 39 percent clip from behind the arc.
  • She leads the BIG EAST in minutes played, averaging 38.5 per contest and averages 40.2 minutes per game in conference play.
  • With six threes against Saint Francis (Pa.), Roudebush moved into fifth place in school history.
  • She knocked down a career-high seven triples at Georgetown, second in school history in a single game.
  • Roudebush has scored in double figures in all but four games this season.
  • She was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Jan. 4.
  • Roudebush is 66 points shy of 1,000 for her career (934).
  • She has eight 20-plus point games this season.
  • Roudebush missed the bulk of the 2006-07 season after shoulder and knee injuries.

SUPER STEPHENS

  • Senior Jill Stephens is averaging 11.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest this season.
  • The forward scored a career-high 30 points and added 10 rebounds against Providence, marking the first 30-point game for a UC player since the 2003-04 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 52 percent from the floor, 50 percent from the three-point line and 85 percent from the free throw line, each of which would rank in the school's Top 10 single-season records list.
  • She is second in the BIG EAST in free throw shooting (.848) and ninth in field goal percentage (.522).
  • She is 49 points shy of 1,000 for her career (951).

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 22 starts this season, she is averaging 6.5 points and 8.3 rebounds.
  • A 5-8 guard, she leads the team and ranks ninth in the BIG EAST with 7.9 rebounds 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. Her third double-double came at St. John's where she scored 10 points and added 10 caroms.
  • She has nine double-digit rebounding efforts this season.
  • Morgan was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Dec. 14.

TENACIOUS `D'

  • The Bearcats held their first 10 opponents to under 60 points, allowing 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 38 percent shooting and over 14 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 7.2 points and 4.0 rebounds this season.
  • Jones, a 6-1 post, returns after missing the 2007-08 season. She is a 8.8 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 (206-196).

IMPROVEMENT IN YEAR TWO

  • The Bearcats are a much-improved team in J. Kelley Hall's second season on the bench, and the proof is clear.
  • Against common opponents, the Bearcats have fared much better this season, making up an average of 6.2 points per game in scoring differential.

FUNDAMENTALS

  • The Bearcats rank fourth in the nation in personal fouls, committing just 13.1 per contest.
  • UC is second in the BIG EAST and 28th in the nation in free throw shooting, shooting .743 as a team.

LITTLE BIT OF OLD, LITTLE BIT OF NEW

  • The Bearcats return two 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).

40 MINUTE WOMEN

  • UC starters have combined to post 23 40-plus minute games this season, led by Kahla Roudebush, who has played the full 40 11 times and played in 49 of a possible 50 minutes in a double overtime loss against Providence.
  • Freshman point guard Shanasa Sanders has been thrown into the fire, playing 40 or more minutes five times this season.