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Bearcats Look to Snap Skid at Rutgers

Bearcats Look to Snap Skid at RutgersBearcats Look to Snap Skid at Rutgers

Feb. 23, 2009

Game Notes |

BEARCATS LOOK TO SNAP SKID AT RUTGERS
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team will travel to Piscataway, N.J., to take on Rutgers, looking to snap a nine-game losing streak. The Bearcats and Scarlet Knights will tip off at 7:30 p.m. in the Louis Brown Athletic Center. Rutgers has won two straight, but is just 4-4 over its last eight games.

THE SERIES
The Bearcats are winless against the Scarlet Knights in three tries. UC dropped a 64-51 decision on Jan. 3, 2006, in its first game as a member of the BIG EAST. Last season, RU topped the Bearcats, 71-41, on Jan. 22, 2008, in Fifth Third Arena.

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 315-147 overall record and a 111-91 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 15.9 per game. She has scored 20 or more eight times this season and ranks 12th 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 16 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

  • Jill Stephens scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds, but the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team dropped a 68-53 decision at No. 19/22 Pittsburgh on Feb. 21 at Petersen Events Center.
  • The Bearcats were down just two points at the half, 26-24, but were outscored, 42-29, in the second half.
  • Pittsburgh outrebounded the Bearcats, 43-26, including 20-3 on the offensive glass. Pitt converted those 20 offensive boards into 21 second-chance points.
  • Shavonte Zellous and Xenia Stewart led Pitt with 16 points apiece, but UC held Zellous, the BIG EAST's leading scorer, seven points under her season average. She shot just 6-of-22 from the floor.
  • Stephens now has 984 career points, 16 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Kahla Roudebush was the only other Bearcat in double figures with 10 points. Shanasa Sanders and Shelly Bellman finished with nine each.

BEARCATS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS

  • UC is 8-59 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.
  • UC is 1-5 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 15.9 points per game and has knocked down 60 three-pointers, shooting at a 39 percent clip from behind the arc.
  • She leads the BIG EAST in minutes played, averaging 38.4 per contest and averages 39.8 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 46 points shy of 1,000 for her career (954).
  • 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 11.7 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 54 percent from the floor, 47 percent from the three-point line and 84 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 (.841) and eighth in field goal percentage (.543).
  • She is 16 points shy of 1,000 for her career (984).

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 24 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 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 7.0 points and 3.9 rebounds this season.
  • Jones, a 6-1 post, returns after missing the 2007-08 season. She is a 8.7 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 (207-203).

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 6.1 points per game in scoring differential.

FUNDAMENTALS

  • The Bearcats rank fifth in the nation in personal fouls, committing just 13.2 per contest.
  • UC is third in the BIG EAST and 29th in the nation in free throw shooting .739 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 27 40-plus minute games this season, led by Kahla Roudebush, who has played the full 40 12 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 six times this season.