Cook, Turner Set Career Highs As Bearcats Improve To 6-0

Dec. 1, 2011

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CINCINNATI - Kayla Cook (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) and Tiffany Turner (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) set career highs when the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team beat Morgan State, 64-60, and improved to 6-0 on Thursday, Dec. 1. Cook shot 7-of-11, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range en route to a career-best 20 points. Turner recorded her second career double-double with a career-high 17 points and 12 rebounds.

"All credit to Morgan State," said head coach Jamelle Elliott. "They are a scrappy team. They came in here with nothing to lose, no pressure on them and playing against a BIG EAST school. They came out here and played with a tremendous amount of confidence. Once you start making shots, you get confidence. And once you make the second one, you get confidence. But the good thing about my team is that we have a lot of things to work on. Tomorrow starts the day that we'll work on that, but we grinded it out."

Cook was the go-to Bearcat as UC lost a 10-point halftime lead and saw the Lady Bears pull within three of the hosts six times in the second half. A Cook 3-ball with 46 seconds left increased the Cincinnati lead to seven, 60-53, to ease the tension. A pair of free throws by Dayeesha Hollins (Cincinnati, Ohio/Winton Woods/Michigan) in the final seconds all but iced the victory for the Bearcats.

After exchanging baskets in the early goings of the game, UC started to pull ahead after Bjonee Reaves (San Bernardino, Calif./Cajon/Neosho County (Kan.)) hit a 3-pointer to give UC the 14-7 lead with 12:21 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats built the lead up to as much as 16, 25-9, at the 7:45 mark before Morgan State closed out the half on a 12-6 run to make it 31-21 at the half.

Cook opened up the scoring for Cincinnati with back-to-back 3-balls, but the Lady Bears weren't going down without a fight, going on a 7-0 run to make the score 37-30 with 15:46 left in the game. MSU continued to put a scare into the Bearcats, but the hot 3-point shooting of Cook kept UC on top as it improved to 6-0 for the first time since the 2001-02 season.

Morgan State was lead by Dekeisha Mathis with 19 points. The Lady Bears shot 42 percent, while UC shot just 34 percent. The Bearcats outrebounded MSU, 44-36, including 22 offensive boards.

The Bearcats will face Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 2 p.m. at the Cintas Center.