TicketsCINCINNATI – Following more than a week off from competition during exam week, University of Cincinnati women's basketball will welcome the Xavier Musketeers to Fifth Third Arena on Sunday, Dec. 16, for a 2 p.m. tipoff in the 2018 edition of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout.
// TICKETS
General admission tickets to the game are only $5, while tickets inside the Champions Club are just $7. Discounts for youth (ages 4-12) and seniors (ages 65+) include $3 general admission tickets and $5 Champions Club tickets. Tickets can be purchased by either calling 1-877-CATS-TIX, logging onto GoBEARCATS.com/Tickets, or by visiting the Fifth Third Arena ticket office on gameday.
// PARKING
Cash parking will be available at Corry Garage on campus for $5.
// GOING LIVE
A live video stream will be available – for free – on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
In coordination with the Bearcats, fans are encouraged to wear red to the game. Attending fans will receive a free, red, Bearcats t-shirt along with a 15% off Under Armour coupon. Sunday will also be a rUCkus Double Point Day. In addition, there will be a postgame shootaround for fans on the court, as well as the regular autograph session with the Bearcats following the game.
// THE SERIES
Sunday will be the 41st all-time meeting between the Bearcats and Musketeers. The Red & Black holds a 23-17 series advantage, including a 9-8 edge in games played on the UC campus. The Bearcats have come up short in the last five meeting including, most recently, a 53-50 loss at Xavier last season. Forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) led the team with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the setback. UC last claimed the Kendle Cup -- the traveling trophy in the rivalry – in 2013 with a 47-26 triumph at XU.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (6-5) used a dominant fourth-quarter showing to defeat the visiting VCU Rams, 66-54, on Dec. 7 at Fifth Third Arena. Facing a 46-43 deficit, the Bearcats (6-5) outscored the Rams (6-3) 23-8 in the final period – including a 10-0 run midway through the stanza -- to snap a three-game losing streak. Sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) led all scorers and rebounders with a career-best 20 points, to go along with nine rebounds. Thomas was joined in double-figures by guards Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) and Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) who both scored 14 points, while junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) chipped in 11 points.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Thomas was selected to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. Thomas earned the accolade after averaging 16.0 point and 6.5 rebounds in just 23.0 minutes per game last week as the Bearcats went 1-1. In total, she went 13-of-18 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. On the season, Thomas is averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 24 minutes each contest. The forward is second in The American in field goal percentage at 64.0 percent on the year. The honor is the first weekly league recognition for the Bearcats this season. Last season, in addition to being named AAC Freshman of the Year, Thomas was tabbed Freshman of the Week five times.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is really stepping up in her senior season. After averaging 2.7 points per game as a freshman, 6.1 as a sophomore, and a team-best 11.2 as a junior, the guard is pacing UC in 2018-19 with a team-high 11.3 points each contest. Goings is also continuing to shoot the ball well from deep, having knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 16-straight games dating back to last season.
Miller is being leaned on to step up this year after the graduation of point guard Ana Owens who scored 1.469 points and dished out 404 assists in her UC career. She has responded by impacting the game in a variety of ways with 10.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her total assists mark (53) ranks first in the American Athletic Conference and 25th in the country, while her steals total (25) ranks third in the league and 39th nationally. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.41) is 52nd-best in NCAA Division I.
Sophomore Andeija Puckett (Griffin, Ga./Griffin), who was previously used sparingly off the bench, got the start on Nov. 18 at St. Louis and delivered. In her first-career appearance in the starting lineup, the sophomore impressed with a game and career-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points, three steals, and two blocks in 23 minutes of play. Puckett followed with a career-best 11 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks off the bench at Ball State on Nov. 28.
Junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving early on at UC. Having experienced civil war and political unrest in her east African home country of Burundi, Sifa followed her basketball dream to junior college in Jacksonville, Texas and now to Cincinnati. An athletic guard, she has already proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game through 11 contests.
UC signed a talented, six-member recruiting class for the 2019-20 season on Nov. 11. Stretching from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and all the way to Africa, head coach Michelle Clark-Heard's inaugural Bearcats signing class features players who are tenacious, versatile, and true winners. Signees include: 6-foot-2 forward Jana Abdullah (Alexandria, Egypt/King Integrated American School), 5-foot-6 point guard Aleah Nelson (Nottingham, Md./McDonogh High School), 6-foot-1 wing Jada Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 6-foot-1 forward Jadyn Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 5-foot-8 guard Jordan Tuff (Kernersville, N.C./Connections Academy), and 5-foot-8 guard Chellia Watson (Winder, Ga./Window-Barrow High School). The Scott twins' brother, Trevon, is a redshirt junior forward on the UC men's basketball team.
UC returns three starters in 2018-19 from a team that won 19 games last year -- its best season in 15 years – and advanced to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship. With 68 percent of their scoring and 66 percent of their rebounding back, the Bearcats also boast the league's reigning Freshman of the Year in Thomas. UC's leading returning scorer from a year ago, Goings, is also back after averaging 11.2 points per game in 2017-18.
Leading UC this year will be head coach Michelle Clark-Heard who was an assistant at UC from 2002-05 and spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky. In six seasons at WKU, Clark-Heard reached four NCAA Tournaments, won four conference tournament championships and two regular season conference titles while posting 154 wins, becoming the second-fastest Lady Topper coach to reach 100 victories with the program. She amassed a 154-48 (.762) record at WKU and a 178-80 (.690) career mark. Clark-Heard has led her teams to six-consecutive 20-win seasons and six-straight appearances in the postseason (four NCAA, two WNIT).
At American Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day on Oct. 15, UC was selected to finish fifth in the 12-team league. Chosen by the league's head coaches, the pick is the highest the Bearcats have ever been selected in their six years in the AAC. Five-time The American champion and 2018 NCAA Final Four participant UConn was, again, picked to win the conference title. USF earned one first-place vote and was chosen second. Houston followed in third ahead of UCF, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, ECU, Tulane, Wichita State, Memphis, and Tulsa to round out the poll.
UC welcomes three newcomers in 2018-19 in transfer guards Addaya Moore (Granite City, Ill./Granite City/Illinois), Monique Thompson (Long Beach, Calif./St. Anthony/Northwest Christian), and Sifa. Moore transferred to UC from Illinois and will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules with three seasons of eligibility remaining in Clifton, beginning with the 2019-20 season. Thompson is a graduate transfer from NAIA Northwest Christian in Eugene, Oregon and is eligible to play this season. Sifa comes to UC from the JuCo ranks at Jacksonville College in Jacksonville, Texas and will be an important contributor for the Bearcats in 2018-19.
The Bearcats' home schedule features 16 regular-season home games, highlighted by the annual Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout against Xavier on Sunday, Dec. 16 and a matchup with perennial national power UConn on Saturday, Feb. 2. View the complete 2018-19 schedule here.
// SCOUTING THE MUSKETEERS
XU has won five-straight games and improved to 7-1 on Dec. 9 with an 80-59 home win against Delaware State. The Musketeers featured four double-figure scorers, led by 17 points and 13 rebounds from A'riana Gray. On the season, Gray is leading the way with 16.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while Na'Teshia Owens adds 11.6 points each contest. Xavier ranks second in the BIG EAST in three-point field-goal percentage defense (.250), while ranking 23rd nationally. In the preseason, the Musketeers were picked to finish last in the 10-team BIG EAST Conference.
// FIFTH THIRD ARENA REOPENS
After a 20-month, privately funded, $87-million renovation, Fifth Third Arena reopens in 2018-19. With the arena under renovation, the Bearcats played the 2017-18 season off campus at both Saint Ursula Academy (16 games) and Cincinnati State (two games). UC posted a 12-6 home mark last year.
// SEASON TICKET INFO
Catch the exciting start of Clark-Heard era and the reopening of Fifth Third Arena by purchasing your 2018-19 University of Cincinnati women's basketball season tickets now! The prices for standard Bearcats season tickets are $65 for adults and $50 for youth, seniors, UC faculty and staff and current or former military members. Courtside season tickets are on sale for $100. Click here for more information on season tickets. Click here to purchase today.
// TICKETS
General admission tickets to the game are only $5, while tickets inside the Champions Club are just $7. Discounts for youth (ages 4-12) and seniors (ages 65+) include $3 general admission tickets and $5 Champions Club tickets. Tickets can be purchased by either calling 1-877-CATS-TIX, logging onto GoBEARCATS.com/Tickets, or by visiting the Fifth Third Arena ticket office on gameday.
// PARKING
Cash parking will be available at Corry Garage on campus for $5.
// GOING LIVE
A live video stream will be available – for free – on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
In coordination with the Bearcats, fans are encouraged to wear red to the game. Attending fans will receive a free, red, Bearcats t-shirt along with a 15% off Under Armour coupon. Sunday will also be a rUCkus Double Point Day. In addition, there will be a postgame shootaround for fans on the court, as well as the regular autograph session with the Bearcats following the game.
// THE SERIES
Sunday will be the 41st all-time meeting between the Bearcats and Musketeers. The Red & Black holds a 23-17 series advantage, including a 9-8 edge in games played on the UC campus. The Bearcats have come up short in the last five meeting including, most recently, a 53-50 loss at Xavier last season. Forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) led the team with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds in the setback. UC last claimed the Kendle Cup -- the traveling trophy in the rivalry – in 2013 with a 47-26 triumph at XU.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (6-5) used a dominant fourth-quarter showing to defeat the visiting VCU Rams, 66-54, on Dec. 7 at Fifth Third Arena. Facing a 46-43 deficit, the Bearcats (6-5) outscored the Rams (6-3) 23-8 in the final period – including a 10-0 run midway through the stanza -- to snap a three-game losing streak. Sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) led all scorers and rebounders with a career-best 20 points, to go along with nine rebounds. Thomas was joined in double-figures by guards Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) and Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) who both scored 14 points, while junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) chipped in 11 points.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Thomas was selected to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday. Thomas earned the accolade after averaging 16.0 point and 6.5 rebounds in just 23.0 minutes per game last week as the Bearcats went 1-1. In total, she went 13-of-18 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free-throw line. On the season, Thomas is averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in 24 minutes each contest. The forward is second in The American in field goal percentage at 64.0 percent on the year. The honor is the first weekly league recognition for the Bearcats this season. Last season, in addition to being named AAC Freshman of the Year, Thomas was tabbed Freshman of the Week five times.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is really stepping up in her senior season. After averaging 2.7 points per game as a freshman, 6.1 as a sophomore, and a team-best 11.2 as a junior, the guard is pacing UC in 2018-19 with a team-high 11.3 points each contest. Goings is also continuing to shoot the ball well from deep, having knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 16-straight games dating back to last season.
Miller is being leaned on to step up this year after the graduation of point guard Ana Owens who scored 1.469 points and dished out 404 assists in her UC career. She has responded by impacting the game in a variety of ways with 10.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her total assists mark (53) ranks first in the American Athletic Conference and 25th in the country, while her steals total (25) ranks third in the league and 39th nationally. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.41) is 52nd-best in NCAA Division I.
Sophomore Andeija Puckett (Griffin, Ga./Griffin), who was previously used sparingly off the bench, got the start on Nov. 18 at St. Louis and delivered. In her first-career appearance in the starting lineup, the sophomore impressed with a game and career-high 10 rebounds to go along with four points, three steals, and two blocks in 23 minutes of play. Puckett followed with a career-best 11 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks off the bench at Ball State on Nov. 28.
Junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving early on at UC. Having experienced civil war and political unrest in her east African home country of Burundi, Sifa followed her basketball dream to junior college in Jacksonville, Texas and now to Cincinnati. An athletic guard, she has already proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game through 11 contests.
UC signed a talented, six-member recruiting class for the 2019-20 season on Nov. 11. Stretching from the Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast and all the way to Africa, head coach Michelle Clark-Heard's inaugural Bearcats signing class features players who are tenacious, versatile, and true winners. Signees include: 6-foot-2 forward Jana Abdullah (Alexandria, Egypt/King Integrated American School), 5-foot-6 point guard Aleah Nelson (Nottingham, Md./McDonogh High School), 6-foot-1 wing Jada Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 6-foot-1 forward Jadyn Scott (Townsend, Ga./Frederica Academy), 5-foot-8 guard Jordan Tuff (Kernersville, N.C./Connections Academy), and 5-foot-8 guard Chellia Watson (Winder, Ga./Window-Barrow High School). The Scott twins' brother, Trevon, is a redshirt junior forward on the UC men's basketball team.
UC returns three starters in 2018-19 from a team that won 19 games last year -- its best season in 15 years – and advanced to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship. With 68 percent of their scoring and 66 percent of their rebounding back, the Bearcats also boast the league's reigning Freshman of the Year in Thomas. UC's leading returning scorer from a year ago, Goings, is also back after averaging 11.2 points per game in 2017-18.
Leading UC this year will be head coach Michelle Clark-Heard who was an assistant at UC from 2002-05 and spent the previous six seasons as the head coach at Western Kentucky. In six seasons at WKU, Clark-Heard reached four NCAA Tournaments, won four conference tournament championships and two regular season conference titles while posting 154 wins, becoming the second-fastest Lady Topper coach to reach 100 victories with the program. She amassed a 154-48 (.762) record at WKU and a 178-80 (.690) career mark. Clark-Heard has led her teams to six-consecutive 20-win seasons and six-straight appearances in the postseason (four NCAA, two WNIT).
At American Athletic Conference Basketball Media Day on Oct. 15, UC was selected to finish fifth in the 12-team league. Chosen by the league's head coaches, the pick is the highest the Bearcats have ever been selected in their six years in the AAC. Five-time The American champion and 2018 NCAA Final Four participant UConn was, again, picked to win the conference title. USF earned one first-place vote and was chosen second. Houston followed in third ahead of UCF, Cincinnati, Temple, SMU, ECU, Tulane, Wichita State, Memphis, and Tulsa to round out the poll.
UC welcomes three newcomers in 2018-19 in transfer guards Addaya Moore (Granite City, Ill./Granite City/Illinois), Monique Thompson (Long Beach, Calif./St. Anthony/Northwest Christian), and Sifa. Moore transferred to UC from Illinois and will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules with three seasons of eligibility remaining in Clifton, beginning with the 2019-20 season. Thompson is a graduate transfer from NAIA Northwest Christian in Eugene, Oregon and is eligible to play this season. Sifa comes to UC from the JuCo ranks at Jacksonville College in Jacksonville, Texas and will be an important contributor for the Bearcats in 2018-19.
The Bearcats' home schedule features 16 regular-season home games, highlighted by the annual Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout against Xavier on Sunday, Dec. 16 and a matchup with perennial national power UConn on Saturday, Feb. 2. View the complete 2018-19 schedule here.
// SCOUTING THE MUSKETEERS
XU has won five-straight games and improved to 7-1 on Dec. 9 with an 80-59 home win against Delaware State. The Musketeers featured four double-figure scorers, led by 17 points and 13 rebounds from A'riana Gray. On the season, Gray is leading the way with 16.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while Na'Teshia Owens adds 11.6 points each contest. Xavier ranks second in the BIG EAST in three-point field-goal percentage defense (.250), while ranking 23rd nationally. In the preseason, the Musketeers were picked to finish last in the 10-team BIG EAST Conference.
// FIFTH THIRD ARENA REOPENS
After a 20-month, privately funded, $87-million renovation, Fifth Third Arena reopens in 2018-19. With the arena under renovation, the Bearcats played the 2017-18 season off campus at both Saint Ursula Academy (16 games) and Cincinnati State (two games). UC posted a 12-6 home mark last year.
// SEASON TICKET INFO
Catch the exciting start of Clark-Heard era and the reopening of Fifth Third Arena by purchasing your 2018-19 University of Cincinnati women's basketball season tickets now! The prices for standard Bearcats season tickets are $65 for adults and $50 for youth, seniors, UC faculty and staff and current or former military members. Courtside season tickets are on sale for $100. Click here for more information on season tickets. Click here to purchase today.