TicketsCINCINNATI – After a two-game road stint, University of Cincinnati women's basketball will return home Wednesday, Feb. 20 to welcome the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to Fifth Third Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
// 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 be streamed live on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
The usual postgame autograph session will take place on the arena floor.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Hurricane slightly in the all-time series -- 4-5 -- but have won the last three -meetings, including, most recently, a 70-50 win on Jan. 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the victory, UC had four players with double-figure scoring performances with sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) leading the way with 18 points. UC has picked up only one victory in four tries against TU in Cincinnati. In the lone home triumph, the Red & Black dominated the Hurricane 78-41 last season – UC's largest-ever margin of victory in an American Athletic Conference (AAC) game. In the thumping, guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored 11 points off the bench, while guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) added 10.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (16-9, 8-4 AAC) dropped a 78-70 decision to the Temple Owls on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. With the score tied at 57 just seconds into the fourth quarter, the Bearcats fell victim to a 12-0 Owls run and couldn't recover down the stretch. For the third-straight game, five UC players scored in double figures with Miller leading the way with 16 points. Thomas chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) added 11 points. In addition, junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) and Goings both came off the bench to score a combined 20 points with each posting 10. Sifa also grabbed a team-high-tying nine rebounds.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
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 12.5 points, 5.6 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.6) ranks second in the AAC and 21st in the country, while her steals total (51) ranks third in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 40th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice in the past four weeks, most recently on Feb. 11 following her career day of 23 points against Wichita State.
Thomas has been a fixture on The American's weekly honor list with recognition four times this season. On Jan. 21, the sophomore was named Player of the Week for the second time in 2018-19 after averaging 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 steals as the Bearcats picked up a pair of wins. 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 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. On the year, she is seventh in the country in field-goal percentage at 62.8 percent from the field.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is 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 9.8 points each contest in 2018-19. After suffering a sprained ankle at UConn on Jan. 9, the senior scored 11 points at UCF the following game with three made 3-pointers. Goings' is currently on a streak of five-straight games – off the bench -- with double-figure scoring. The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 4 after averaging 16.0 points, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 rebounds as the Bearcats split a pair of games the week prior.
UC's eight conference wins each have been very impressive. On average, the Bearcats have won by 17 points, featuring a league-play-best, 28-point wallop of Wichita State on Feb. 10. The Red & Black have registered five wins by 20 points or more, including its last two.
Junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) picked up her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Jan.7 after recording a career performance on Jan. 6 in UC's AAC-opening, 69-57 home victory over SMU. The Cincinnati native scored a career-best 20 points – 17 of which came in the first half – including a career-high five 3-pointers. The guard was a catalyst in a game-changing, late-second-quarter, 15-0 Bearcats run with three triples. In addition, she tallied another career mark with two blocks.
Sifa had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving 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 7.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game through 23 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 12-2 record in 2018-19. UC reeled off nine-consecutive victories at home before dropping a close one to No. 2 UConn on Feb. 2. In total, the Red & Black boasts a 72-percent (36-14) winning percentage on their home floor 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). Nelson and Tuff were both recently nominated for selection for the 2019 McDonald's All American Game. 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.
// SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE
Tulsa (11-13, 5-6 AAC) had it two-game winning streak snapped Saturday with a 59-48 loss at USF. The Hurricane led for over 25 minutes, but USF outscored Tulsa, 16-2, in the fourth quarter to earn a 59-48 win. Kendrian Elliott earned her sixth career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Alexis Gaulden added a team-high 11 points and six assists. On the season, Crystal Polk averages team bests of 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while Gaulden adds 12.4 points each outing. As a team, Tulsa scores 58.7 points a contest, but gives up 63.0. In the preseason, the Hurricane was picked to finish last in the 12-team AAC.
// 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.
// 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 be streamed live on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// GAME PROMOTIONS
The usual postgame autograph session will take place on the arena floor.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Hurricane slightly in the all-time series -- 4-5 -- but have won the last three -meetings, including, most recently, a 70-50 win on Jan. 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the victory, UC had four players with double-figure scoring performances with sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) leading the way with 18 points. UC has picked up only one victory in four tries against TU in Cincinnati. In the lone home triumph, the Red & Black dominated the Hurricane 78-41 last season – UC's largest-ever margin of victory in an American Athletic Conference (AAC) game. In the thumping, guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored 11 points off the bench, while guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) added 10.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (16-9, 8-4 AAC) dropped a 78-70 decision to the Temple Owls on Sunday afternoon at McGonigle Hall. With the score tied at 57 just seconds into the fourth quarter, the Bearcats fell victim to a 12-0 Owls run and couldn't recover down the stretch. For the third-straight game, five UC players scored in double figures with Miller leading the way with 16 points. Thomas chipped in 15 points and nine rebounds, while junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) added 11 points. In addition, junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) and Goings both came off the bench to score a combined 20 points with each posting 10. Sifa also grabbed a team-high-tying nine rebounds.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
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 12.5 points, 5.6 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.6) ranks second in the AAC and 21st in the country, while her steals total (51) ranks third in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 40th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice in the past four weeks, most recently on Feb. 11 following her career day of 23 points against Wichita State.
Thomas has been a fixture on The American's weekly honor list with recognition four times this season. On Jan. 21, the sophomore was named Player of the Week for the second time in 2018-19 after averaging 20.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 steals as the Bearcats picked up a pair of wins. 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 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. On the year, she is seventh in the country in field-goal percentage at 62.8 percent from the field.
Goings has shown a steady progression throughout her Bearcats career and is 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 9.8 points each contest in 2018-19. After suffering a sprained ankle at UConn on Jan. 9, the senior scored 11 points at UCF the following game with three made 3-pointers. Goings' is currently on a streak of five-straight games – off the bench -- with double-figure scoring. The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll on Feb. 4 after averaging 16.0 points, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 rebounds as the Bearcats split a pair of games the week prior.
UC's eight conference wins each have been very impressive. On average, the Bearcats have won by 17 points, featuring a league-play-best, 28-point wallop of Wichita State on Feb. 10. The Red & Black have registered five wins by 20 points or more, including its last two.
Junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) picked up her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Jan.7 after recording a career performance on Jan. 6 in UC's AAC-opening, 69-57 home victory over SMU. The Cincinnati native scored a career-best 20 points – 17 of which came in the first half – including a career-high five 3-pointers. The guard was a catalyst in a game-changing, late-second-quarter, 15-0 Bearcats run with three triples. In addition, she tallied another career mark with two blocks.
Sifa had a long, winding journey to NCAA Division I basketball, but is thriving 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 7.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game through 23 contests.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 12-2 record in 2018-19. UC reeled off nine-consecutive victories at home before dropping a close one to No. 2 UConn on Feb. 2. In total, the Red & Black boasts a 72-percent (36-14) winning percentage on their home floor 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). Nelson and Tuff were both recently nominated for selection for the 2019 McDonald's All American Game. 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.
// SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE
Tulsa (11-13, 5-6 AAC) had it two-game winning streak snapped Saturday with a 59-48 loss at USF. The Hurricane led for over 25 minutes, but USF outscored Tulsa, 16-2, in the fourth quarter to earn a 59-48 win. Kendrian Elliott earned her sixth career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Alexis Gaulden added a team-high 11 points and six assists. On the season, Crystal Polk averages team bests of 12.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while Gaulden adds 12.4 points each outing. As a team, Tulsa scores 58.7 points a contest, but gives up 63.0. In the preseason, the Hurricane was picked to finish last in the 12-team AAC.
// 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.