TicketsCINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati women's basketball will wrap the home portion of the regular-season schedule Saturday when it welcomes USF to Fifth Third Arena for a noon tipoff on Senior Day.
// 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. Those with a ticket to the men's basketball game vs. Memphis on Saturday at 8 p.m. can receive $2 admission to the women's game by showing the men's ticket at the ticket office. 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
UC will honor its four seniors – Maya Benham, Nikira Goings, Monique Thompson, & Chelsea Warren -- after the game during a Senior Day ceremony. As a result, there will be no postgame autograph session. In addition, National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) will be celebrated with special programming before the game. Click here for more information on the NGWSD festivities. Furthermore, both the Frisch's and Skyline concession booths will be open.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats picked up their first win against the Bulls since 2011 on Jan. 30 with a 57-56 victory in Tampa, Florida. In the triumph, the trio of junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup), senior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne), and sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) combined to score 49 of UC's 57 points. Overall in the series, UC trails USF, 15-18, with the Red & Black also behind, 6-7, in games played in Cincinnati. In the last meeting in the Queen City, the Bearcats fell, 69-49, in 2018.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (18-9, 10-4 AAC) registered its 10th American Athletic Conference (AAC) win of the season on Feb. 23 with a 68-57 victory over ECU at Minges Coliseum. The Bearcats led the Pirates by as many as 12 in the first half and took a 39-28 advantage into halftime. ECU crept back into the game early in the third quarter, trailing by just seven. UC responded by pushing its lead back to double digits at the end of three and stayed in control in the fourth period to notch 10 conference wins for the second-straight year. Now a fixture in the starting lineup, junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) led the way with 17 points, to go along with five rebounds. Miller matched Sifa in scoring and rebounding, and added four assists. Back in her home state in front of many family and friends, junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) narrowly missed her first double-double of the season with 12 points and nine rebounds, as well as four assists.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
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. Sifa earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Feb. 25 after averaging 15.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.5 steals per game as the Bearcats won both of their contests last week.
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 12.8 points, 5.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.4) ranks second in the AAC and 26th in the country, while her steals total (52) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 44th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice this season, 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 ninth in the country in field-goal percentage at 61.2 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 9.5 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. In her career, the sharpshooter is seventh all-time in program history in made 3-pointers with 148 and 10th in 3-point field-goal percentage at 32.5 percent.
UC's 10 conference wins have each 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 six wins by 20 points or more, including three of its last five. In addition, the Bearcats' 10 AAC victories match last season's total which was their most since the 2002-03 squad went 11-3 in Conference USA.
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.
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 BULLS
USF (16-12, 7-7 AAC) picked up its fourth-consecutive win Wednesday with a 59-49 victory at Houston. Junior post Tamara Henshaw matched her career high with 15 points, while freshman guard Elisa Pinzan and sophomore guard Enna Pehadzic each scored 12. On the season, freshman guard Sydni Harvey leads the Bulls with 11.8 points and 3.4 assists per game. Henshaw paces the team on the glass with 8.1 rebounds each outing, while Pehadzic posts 11.5 points per. USF scores 55.1 points a contest, but only gives up 52.3 points and 35.9-perecnt shooting in conference play. The Bulls lead the league in rebounding margin (+10.6) and blocked shots per game (4.8). In the preseason, USF was picked to finish second in the AAC, but was decimated by injuries and illness to key players early in the season.
// 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. Those with a ticket to the men's basketball game vs. Memphis on Saturday at 8 p.m. can receive $2 admission to the women's game by showing the men's ticket at the ticket office. 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
UC will honor its four seniors – Maya Benham, Nikira Goings, Monique Thompson, & Chelsea Warren -- after the game during a Senior Day ceremony. As a result, there will be no postgame autograph session. In addition, National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) will be celebrated with special programming before the game. Click here for more information on the NGWSD festivities. Furthermore, both the Frisch's and Skyline concession booths will be open.
// THE SERIES
The Bearcats picked up their first win against the Bulls since 2011 on Jan. 30 with a 57-56 victory in Tampa, Florida. In the triumph, the trio of junior guard Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup), senior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne), and sophomore forward IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) combined to score 49 of UC's 57 points. Overall in the series, UC trails USF, 15-18, with the Red & Black also behind, 6-7, in games played in Cincinnati. In the last meeting in the Queen City, the Bearcats fell, 69-49, in 2018.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (18-9, 10-4 AAC) registered its 10th American Athletic Conference (AAC) win of the season on Feb. 23 with a 68-57 victory over ECU at Minges Coliseum. The Bearcats led the Pirates by as many as 12 in the first half and took a 39-28 advantage into halftime. ECU crept back into the game early in the third quarter, trailing by just seven. UC responded by pushing its lead back to double digits at the end of three and stayed in control in the fourth period to notch 10 conference wins for the second-straight year. Now a fixture in the starting lineup, junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) led the way with 17 points, to go along with five rebounds. Miller matched Sifa in scoring and rebounding, and added four assists. Back in her home state in front of many family and friends, junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) narrowly missed her first double-double of the season with 12 points and nine rebounds, as well as four assists.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
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. Sifa earned her first AAC Weekly Honor Roll distinction on Feb. 25 after averaging 15.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.5 steals per game as the Bearcats won both of their contests last week.
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 12.8 points, 5.4 assists, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.4) ranks second in the AAC and 26th in the country, while her steals total (52) ranks fourth in the league. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) is 44th-best in NCAA Division I. Miller has been named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice this season, 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 ninth in the country in field-goal percentage at 61.2 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 9.5 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. In her career, the sharpshooter is seventh all-time in program history in made 3-pointers with 148 and 10th in 3-point field-goal percentage at 32.5 percent.
UC's 10 conference wins have each 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 six wins by 20 points or more, including three of its last five. In addition, the Bearcats' 10 AAC victories match last season's total which was their most since the 2002-03 squad went 11-3 in Conference USA.
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.
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 BULLS
USF (16-12, 7-7 AAC) picked up its fourth-consecutive win Wednesday with a 59-49 victory at Houston. Junior post Tamara Henshaw matched her career high with 15 points, while freshman guard Elisa Pinzan and sophomore guard Enna Pehadzic each scored 12. On the season, freshman guard Sydni Harvey leads the Bulls with 11.8 points and 3.4 assists per game. Henshaw paces the team on the glass with 8.1 rebounds each outing, while Pehadzic posts 11.5 points per. USF scores 55.1 points a contest, but only gives up 52.3 points and 35.9-perecnt shooting in conference play. The Bulls lead the league in rebounding margin (+10.6) and blocked shots per game (4.8). In the preseason, USF was picked to finish second in the AAC, but was decimated by injuries and illness to key players early in the season.
// 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.