TicketsCINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati women's basketball will open American Athletic Conference (AAC) action Sunday, Jan. 6, when it hosts SMU for a noon tipoff at Fifth Third Arena
// 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
The game will broadcast live on ESPN2. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
In celebration of National Cuddle-Up Day, fans will receive a free UC blanket (while supplies last). In addition, there will be the regular postgame autograph session with the Bearcats.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats and Mustangs are knotted at four victories apiece in the all-time series with both teams winning two at home and two on the road. UC has topped SMU in the last two meetings including, most recently, a 58-40 triumph last season in Dallas. In the win, guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored 10 points off the bench, while forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) stuffed the stat sheet with 10 rebounds, eight points, three assists, three blocks, and one steal.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (8-5) closed out the nonconference portion of its schedule with a dominating, 85-51 victory over the Howard Bison on Dec. 21 at Fifth Third Arena. Sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) continued her hot streak with a new-career-best 23 points – on 10-of-11 shooting -- after posting 20 in each of her last two outings. The sophomore also grabbed a game-best 17 rebounds and recorded new career marks of six assists and three steals. The forward was aided in the win by 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists by Miller, 11 points from senior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne), and 10 points, eight rebounds, and a career-best four assists by Rizor.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Thomas has become a fixture on The American's Weekly Honor list with recognition each of the last three weeks the Bearcats have competed. On Dec. 24, the sophomore landed on the Honor Roll after totaling 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three steals against Howard on Dec. 21. The points, assists, and steals totals were each career marks. The week prior, she was named AAC Player of the Week and earned a spot on the NCAA's prestigious Weekly Starting Five following scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds in the annual Crosstown Shootout vs. Xavier on Dec. 16. Previously, the forward was picked for the Honor Roll on Dec. 10 after averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of contests for the week ending Dec. 9. In her last three games, Thomas averaged 21.0 points and 15.0 rebounds. On the year, she is fifth in the country in field goal percentage at 68 percent.
Not a frequent visitor to the charity stripe, but incredibly efficient from there, junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) has missed just four free throws in her career – all of which happened this season -- and is shooting a third-best in the American 85 percent this season. The junior is 23-of-27 from the line in 2018-19 and knocked down a career-high five against VCU on Dec. 7. The guard was perfect from the stripe in her first two seasons: 4-for-4 as a freshman and 24-of-24 as a sophomore.
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 averaging 10.8 points each contest in 2018-19. Goings is continuing to shoot the ball well from deep, having knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 18-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 10.6 points, 5.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.0) ranks first in the AAC and 53rd in the country, while her steals total (28) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.32) is 46th-best in NCAA Division I and runner-up in the conference.
Sophomore forward 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. She matched her career-high in scoring vs. Xavier with 11 points. The sophomore has proven to be a valuable post tool off the pine for the Bearcats.
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 8.0 points and 2.6 rebounds per game through 13 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 7-1 record in 2018-19. A 76-72 setback to Old Dominion on Nov. 12 snapped a five-game winning streak at home dating back to last season. In total, the Red & Black boast a 70-percent (30-13) winning percentage on their home court over the last three years.
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 MUSTANGS
SMU (6-7) dropped its second-straight game on Dec. 29 with a 66-41 home loss to UT Arlington. In the defeat, senior forward Alicia Froling recorded her 43rd career double-double with a team-high 12 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. On the season, Froling is pacing the Mustangs with 13.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Kayla White contributes 12.5 points each contest. During nonconference play, four of SMU's seven losses were by two points or less. Furthermore, the Mustangs came up short in all three of their road contests. In the preseason, SMU was picked to finish seventh in the 12-team AAC with Froling a Second Team All-League selection.
// 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
The game will broadcast live on ESPN2. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
In celebration of National Cuddle-Up Day, fans will receive a free UC blanket (while supplies last). In addition, there will be the regular postgame autograph session with the Bearcats.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats and Mustangs are knotted at four victories apiece in the all-time series with both teams winning two at home and two on the road. UC has topped SMU in the last two meetings including, most recently, a 58-40 triumph last season in Dallas. In the win, guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored 10 points off the bench, while forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) stuffed the stat sheet with 10 rebounds, eight points, three assists, three blocks, and one steal.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (8-5) closed out the nonconference portion of its schedule with a dominating, 85-51 victory over the Howard Bison on Dec. 21 at Fifth Third Arena. Sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) continued her hot streak with a new-career-best 23 points – on 10-of-11 shooting -- after posting 20 in each of her last two outings. The sophomore also grabbed a game-best 17 rebounds and recorded new career marks of six assists and three steals. The forward was aided in the win by 13 points, six rebounds, and four assists by Miller, 11 points from senior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne), and 10 points, eight rebounds, and a career-best four assists by Rizor.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
Thomas has become a fixture on The American's Weekly Honor list with recognition each of the last three weeks the Bearcats have competed. On Dec. 24, the sophomore landed on the Honor Roll after totaling 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three steals against Howard on Dec. 21. The points, assists, and steals totals were each career marks. The week prior, she was named AAC Player of the Week and earned a spot on the NCAA's prestigious Weekly Starting Five following scoring 20 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds in the annual Crosstown Shootout vs. Xavier on Dec. 16. Previously, the forward was picked for the Honor Roll on Dec. 10 after averaging 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in a pair of contests for the week ending Dec. 9. In her last three games, Thomas averaged 21.0 points and 15.0 rebounds. On the year, she is fifth in the country in field goal percentage at 68 percent.
Not a frequent visitor to the charity stripe, but incredibly efficient from there, junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) has missed just four free throws in her career – all of which happened this season -- and is shooting a third-best in the American 85 percent this season. The junior is 23-of-27 from the line in 2018-19 and knocked down a career-high five against VCU on Dec. 7. The guard was perfect from the stripe in her first two seasons: 4-for-4 as a freshman and 24-of-24 as a sophomore.
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 averaging 10.8 points each contest in 2018-19. Goings is continuing to shoot the ball well from deep, having knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 18-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 10.6 points, 5.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.2 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.0) ranks first in the AAC and 53rd in the country, while her steals total (28) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.32) is 46th-best in NCAA Division I and runner-up in the conference.
Sophomore forward 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. She matched her career-high in scoring vs. Xavier with 11 points. The sophomore has proven to be a valuable post tool off the pine for the Bearcats.
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 8.0 points and 2.6 rebounds per game through 13 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 7-1 record in 2018-19. A 76-72 setback to Old Dominion on Nov. 12 snapped a five-game winning streak at home dating back to last season. In total, the Red & Black boast a 70-percent (30-13) winning percentage on their home court over the last three years.
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 MUSTANGS
SMU (6-7) dropped its second-straight game on Dec. 29 with a 66-41 home loss to UT Arlington. In the defeat, senior forward Alicia Froling recorded her 43rd career double-double with a team-high 12 points and a game-best 16 rebounds. On the season, Froling is pacing the Mustangs with 13.2 points and 11.4 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Kayla White contributes 12.5 points each contest. During nonconference play, four of SMU's seven losses were by two points or less. Furthermore, the Mustangs came up short in all three of their road contests. In the preseason, SMU was picked to finish seventh in the 12-team AAC with Froling a Second Team All-League selection.
// 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.