TicketsTonight's game could have gone either way for 30 minutes, but then Kahla Roudebush took control with three consecutive triples in her first breakout game of the year.
Fans, coaches and players alike have been waiting for Roudebush to heat up, and tonight she delivered.
The Bearcats took a 46-41 lead on her show-stealing 9-0 run late in the second half, and never let the Crusaders closer than within 4 the rest of the way.
I saw three major stories coming out of this win:
Handling adversity with poise: Let's not forget that even though they won tonight, the Bearcats turned the ball over 19 times.
How Cincinnati handled those turnovers, however, really stood out.
"We were more focused tonight," said point guard Shareese Ulis. "Normally when we turn the ball over, we let it affect the rest of the game. Tonight, it was 'move on to the next play' instead of 'dwell on that turnover.' I think we did a good job of moving on after we did something wrong."
At the beginning of the season, these Bearcats wouldn't have been able to overcome 19 turnovers, but they have developed a degree of mental toughness.
"I do see us growing as a team," head coach Jamelle Elliott said. "Those are the things that I worry about: us being able to focus for long periods of time, and at the right periods of time in the game. And for the last five minutes of the game today, we were that way. We were focused, we knew exactly what we needed to do ... and the result was we won the game today."
Roudebush's big night. After a painfully slow start to the season for UC's most prolific shooter, Roudebush demonstrated why she's a game-changing player with 22 points and nine rebounds.
She hit four of five from distance, including three in a row that put Cincinnati up for good, and shot a perfect 8 of 8 from the line. Talk about a clutch performance!
Last time out against Eastern Kentucky we saw Shanasa Sanders break out of her funk as well; with one game remaining before the Big East conference season begins, if these two can heat up, the outlook for this team could change drastically.
24 of 27 from the foul line. There's no doubt about it: mature teams capitalize on opportunities at the foul line. Valpo kept putting Bearcats there, and they kept knocking them down.
I already mentioned Roudebush's perfect night, and Carla Jacobs also went 9 of 10. At the end of the game, UC scored 12 consecutive points all on free throws!
The performance showed a level of maturity I wasn't confident this team possessed, but now we're seeing some growth as the season wears on.
That being said, the team is still struggling on offense; consistent defense continues to win games for Cincinnati.
In other adversity news, we saw both Michelle Jones and Daress McClung pick up four fouls apiece with a significant amount of time left in the game. Val Schuster and Elese Daniel stepped in to provide quality minutes, another sign of growth we haven't seen much of this season.
Other notes:
-Kahla Roudebush's 22 points tie her with K.B. Sharp for 16th place on UC's all time scoring list.
-Again tonight, Bryonna Snow did not dress due to coach's decision. When asked when or if she might return to action, Elliott quipped, "To be continued. Possibly after the holidays; maybe Santa will be good to her."
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