TicketsGREENVILLE, N.C. – University of Cincinnati women's basketball will look to pick up its 10th American Athletic Conference (AAC) win – for the second- consecutive year -- Saturday when it visits ECU for a 5 p.m. tipoff at Minges Coliseum.
// GOING LIVE
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Pirates in the all-time series – 6-9 – with the two teams splitting the past four contests. In the most recent meeting last season, UC dropped a 79-70 decision in overtime in Cincinnati. Forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds, while forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) added nine points, five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. The Red & Black also trail ECU in games played in Greenville, 2-5, but did win the last meeting – a 66-54 victory in 2017. In the triumph, Rizor and Thomas each scored 14 points, while Goings added 10.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (17-9, 9-4 AAC) cruised to a 74-47 victory over Tulsa Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats parlayed a 21-point halftime advantage into a 27-point drubbing of the visiting Golden Hurricane – UC's third-straight home AAC win of 24 points or more. Junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored in double figures for the 10th-consecutive contest with a game-best 17 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Fellow junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) – in her third start of the season – stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, a game-high-tying seven rebounds, and a season-best six steals. In addition, Rizor added nine points and seven 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 12.7 points, 5.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.5) ranks second in the AAC and 23rd in the country, while her steals total (51) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) is 37th-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 61.9 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 9.6 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' streak of five-straight games – off the bench -- with double-figure scoring was snapped against Tulsa on Feb. 20 with nine points The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll accolade 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 nine conference wins have each been very impressive. On average, the Bearcats have won by 18 points, featuring a league-play-best, 28-point wallop of Wichita State on Feb. 10. The Red & Black have registered six wins by 20 points or more, including three of its last four.
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 proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game through 24 contests. Sifa has scored in double figures the last four games, averaging 12.8 points.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 13-2 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 73-percent (37-14) 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 PIRATES
ECU (13-13, 4-9 AAC) has lost its last two games, including, most recently a 63-50 setback Wednesday vs. USF. In the loss, the Pirates were led by Raven Johnson, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds to accumulate her second double-double of the season. Also reaching double-figures was Lashonda Monk, as the sophomore guard finished with 12 points, seven assists and four steals. On the season, Johnson leads the team with 13.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while Monk chips in 12.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 4.0 steals each outing. Monk, and the Pirates as a team, both lead the league in steals per game (11.4). ECU also scores 61.3 points per game, but gives up 64.5. In the preseason, ECU was picked to finish eighth 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.
// AAC CHAMPIONSHIP TICKET INFO
Fans wanting to support University of Cincinnati women's basketball at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship can purchase tickets at GoBearcats.com/Tickets or by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX. The championship will take place March 8-11, 2019, with all games being played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, for the sixth-consecutive season. All-session ticket packages, which includes admission to all four days of competition – a total of 11 games – will be available for $99. Tickets will be allocated and mailed the week of Feb. 25. All will-call tickets will be available to pick up at the Mohegan Sun Arena on UC gamedays.
// GOING LIVE
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. A live audio stream will be available on Bearcats TV, while live stats can be accessed here.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats trail the Pirates in the all-time series – 6-9 – with the two teams splitting the past four contests. In the most recent meeting last season, UC dropped a 79-70 decision in overtime in Cincinnati. Forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds, while forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) added nine points, five rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal. The Red & Black also trail ECU in games played in Greenville, 2-5, but did win the last meeting – a 66-54 victory in 2017. In the triumph, Rizor and Thomas each scored 14 points, while Goings added 10.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (17-9, 9-4 AAC) cruised to a 74-47 victory over Tulsa Wednesday night at Fifth Third Arena. The Bearcats parlayed a 21-point halftime advantage into a 27-point drubbing of the visiting Golden Hurricane – UC's third-straight home AAC win of 24 points or more. Junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) scored in double figures for the 10th-consecutive contest with a game-best 17 points, to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Fellow junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) – in her third start of the season – stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, a game-high-tying seven rebounds, and a season-best six steals. In addition, Rizor added nine points and seven 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 12.7 points, 5.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.5) ranks second in the AAC and 23rd in the country, while her steals total (51) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) is 37th-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 61.9 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 9.6 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' streak of five-straight games – off the bench -- with double-figure scoring was snapped against Tulsa on Feb. 20 with nine points The Georgia native earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll accolade 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 nine conference wins have each been very impressive. On average, the Bearcats have won by 18 points, featuring a league-play-best, 28-point wallop of Wichita State on Feb. 10. The Red & Black have registered six wins by 20 points or more, including three of its last four.
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 proven to be a great, late addition to the Bearcats roster with 7.8 points and 3.0 rebounds per game through 24 contests. Sifa has scored in double figures the last four games, averaging 12.8 points.
The Bearcats have created a formidable home-court advantage inside newly-renovated Fifth Third Arena this season with a 13-2 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 73-percent (37-14) 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 PIRATES
ECU (13-13, 4-9 AAC) has lost its last two games, including, most recently a 63-50 setback Wednesday vs. USF. In the loss, the Pirates were led by Raven Johnson, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds to accumulate her second double-double of the season. Also reaching double-figures was Lashonda Monk, as the sophomore guard finished with 12 points, seven assists and four steals. On the season, Johnson leads the team with 13.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, while Monk chips in 12.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 4.0 steals each outing. Monk, and the Pirates as a team, both lead the league in steals per game (11.4). ECU also scores 61.3 points per game, but gives up 64.5. In the preseason, ECU was picked to finish eighth 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.
// AAC CHAMPIONSHIP TICKET INFO
Fans wanting to support University of Cincinnati women's basketball at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championship can purchase tickets at GoBearcats.com/Tickets or by calling 1-877-CATS-TIX. The championship will take place March 8-11, 2019, with all games being played at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, for the sixth-consecutive season. All-session ticket packages, which includes admission to all four days of competition – a total of 11 games – will be available for $99. Tickets will be allocated and mailed the week of Feb. 25. All will-call tickets will be available to pick up at the Mohegan Sun Arena on UC gamedays.