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Women's Basketball Open BIG EAST Championship Against Marquette

Women's Basketball Open BIG EAST Championship Against MarquetteWomen's Basketball Open BIG EAST Championship Against Marquette

March 5, 2009

BIG EAST Championship Central | Game Notes | | Live Video | Live Stats

BEARCATS OPEN BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP AGAINST MARQUETTE
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team will open its third BIG EAST Championship against Marquette on Friday, March 6, at 2 p.m. in the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. The 16th-seeded Bearcats will square off with the No. 9 seed Golden Eagles, with the winner moving on to play No. 8 seed USF on Saturday at 2 p.m.

THE SERIES
Former conference rivals in the Great Midwest and Conference USA, Cincinnati and Marquette have met 29 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 1-4 against the Golden Eagles since both teams joined the BIG EAST in 2005. MU scored a 67-61 win against UC on Feb. 18 in Cincinnati.

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 315-150 overall record and a 111-94 Division I head coaching ledger.

  • Junior guard Kahla Roudebush tops the UC scorers, averaging 16.3 per game. She has scored 20 or more 10 times this season and ranks ninth in the BIG EAST in scoring. She scored her 1,000th career point against DePaul, becoming the 23rd player in school history to reach that mark.
  • Senior forward Jill Stephens became the 22nd player in school history to reach 1,000 career points when she scored her fourth point at USF. She became the first Bearcat to score 30 or more since the 2003-04 season when she totaled 30 points and 10 rebounds against Providence on Feb. 3.
  • 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 7.6 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 became the second Bearcat to reach the 1,000 career point plateau in as many games, but the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team dropped a 67-47 decision against DePaul on March 2.
  • Senior Jill Stephens scored a game-high 20 points and added seven rebounds in her last game in Fifth Third Arena.
  • Sam Quigley led the Blue Demons with 18 points, knocking down 4-of-8 from three-point range. Keisha Hampton added 15 points, Dierdre Naughton scored 14, and Erin Cattell had 11 for DePaul.
  • The highlight of the first stanza for UC came when Roudebush knocked down the second of two free throws to record her 1,000th career point at the 2:00 mark. She became the 23rd player in school history to reach the mark following Stephens, who got her 1,000th point at USF on Saturday.
  • Senior guard Angel Morgan, playing in her final game in Fifth Third Arena, scored just one point but grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and added five assists, her fifth straight game with four or more assists.
  • DePaul hit a season-high 14 three-pointers, including 10 in the first half when its lead was built.

2 x 1,000

  • Senior Jill Stephens and junior Kahla Roudebush both reached the 1,000 career point mark this season.
  • Stephens reached the 1,000-point plateau with her fourth point at USF on Feb. 28. She currently has 1,027 points and is 19th on the all-time UC scoring list.
  • Roudebush scored her 1,000th point on a free throw with 2:00 to play in the first half against DePaul on March 2, becoming the 23rd player in school history to reach that mark. She is 22nd on the career scoring chart with 1,012 points.

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 16.3 points per game and has knocked down 67 three-pointers, shooting at a .392 clip from behind the arc.
  • She became the 23rd player in school history to score 1,000 career points with a free throw against DePaul on March 2.
  • She leads the BIG EAST in minutes played, averaging 38.3 per contest and averages 39.4 minutes per game in conference play.
  • She is ranked fifth in school history with 142 career three-pointers.
  • She knocked down a career-high seven triples at Georgetown, second in school history in a single game.
  • Her 1,112 minutes played this season ranks sixth in school single-season history.
  • Roudebush has scored in double figures in all but four games this season and has 10 20-plus point efforts.
  • She was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Jan. 4.
  • Roudebush missed the bulk of the 2006-07 season after shoulder and knee injuries.

SUPER STEPHENS

  • Senior Jill Stephens is averaging 11.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest this season.
  • She became the 22nd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark in her career at USF. She currently has 1,027 points.
  • Stephens graduated in three years and is currently enrolled in UC's audiology doctoral program.
  • She earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for the second straight year in 2009 and was named the 2008 BIG EAST Institutional Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
  • 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 53 percent from the floor, 50 percent from the three-point line and 86 percent from the free throw line, each of which would rank in the school's Top 10 single-season records list.
  • She leads the BIG EAST and ranks 26th nationally in free throw shooting (.859) and is eighth in field goal percentage (.533).

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 27 starts this season, she is averaging 6.2 points and 7.9 rebounds.
  • A 5-8 guard, she leads the team and ranks ninth in the BIG EAST with 7.6 rebounds per contest and is fourth in league games, averaging 8.3 boards per game.
  • 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 and has grabbed seven or more rebounds 18 times this season.
  • Morgan was named to the BIG EAST Honor Roll for the week ending on Dec. 14.

FUNDAMENTALS

  • The Bearcats rank fifth in the nation in personal fouls, committing just 13.3 per contest.
  • UC is second in the BIG EAST and 18th in the nation in free throw shooting .751 as a team.
  • Jill Stephens leads the BIG EAST and ranks 26th nationally in free throw shooting, connecting at an .859 clip.

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 Shelly Bellman and Michelle Jones, who missed the 2007-08 season).

40 MINUTE WOMEN

  • UC starters have combined to post 30 40-plus minute games this season, led by Kahla Roudebush, who has played the full 40 13 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.

IMPROVEMENT IN YEAR TWO

  • The Bearcats are a much-improved team in J. Kelley Hall's second season on the bench. Against common opponents, the Bearcats have fared much better this season, making up an average of 5.6 points per game in scoring differential.