TicketsUNCASVILLE, Conn. – Following a first-round bye, No. 3 seed University of Cincinnati women's basketball will face the No. 11 seed Memphis Tigers in the 2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals on Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m. ET at Mohegan Sun Arena.
// 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
UC trails U of M on the all-time series, 19-35, and are also behind in games played on a neutral floor, 1-5. However, the Bearcats have won the last five overall meetings, including both this season. In an 80-56 home in on Jan. 26, the Red & Black was led by Thomas' 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field. Following, UC topped the Tigers, 89-69, on Feb. 13 in Memphis with junior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) pacing the team with 19 points, including five made 3-pointers. The two teams have never faced off in The American Championship.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (20-9, 12-4 AAC) wrapped the regular season Monday with an 80-65 victory at Tulane. With the win, the Bearcats tallied 20 victories for the first time since 2003 and 12 league triumphs for the first time since 1999. UC led the entire game, but a 21-12 advantage after one quarter set the tone for the rest of the contest as the Bearcats dealt the Green Wave its fifth-consecutive defeat. The triumph was also the Red & Black's first in New Orleans since 2002. Thomas notched her sixth double-double of the season with game highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Miller added 16 points, six assists, and a career-high six steals. Junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a block. In addition, junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) chipped in 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The trio of Thomas, Miller, and junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) were each recognized on Friday with AAC regular season honors. Thomas was selected First Team All-Conference, Miller Second Team, and Sifa Newcomer of the Year. The recognition marks back-to-back years UC has had multiple AAC regular season honorees after Thomas won Freshman of the Year and Ana Owens was chosen for the Third Team in 2018. In addition, Thomas' selection is the Bearcats' first First Team selection in its six years in the AAC.
On Tuesday, Thomas was named American Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game as the Bearcats went 2-0 over the past week. On the year, she is 10th in the country in field-goal percentage at 60.5 percent from the field and is currently second-best in a season in program history. In addition, Rizor was tabbed for the Weekly Honor Roll after posting averages of 14.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in UC's pair of wins. Thomas has received weekly recognition by the league five times this season, including Player of the Week on Dec. 17, 2018. In total, the sophomore has garnered weekly AAC accolades 10 times in her young career. Tuesday's honor is the first of Rizor's career.
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 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game through 27 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 the previous 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, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.4) ranks second in the AAC and 27th in the country and her current 156 total assists ranks as fourth-best in a season in program history. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) is 61st-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.
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 9.4 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 149.
UC's 12 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 seven.
Rodgers 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 14-2 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 (38-14) 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 TIGERS
Memphis (11-19, 5-11 AAC) overcame a 19-point deficit Friday in the American Championship First Round to top No. 6 seed Temple, 59-58. Gazmyne Herndon led the offense with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jamirah Shutes added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Shutes is the team's leading scorer, netting 13.7 points per contest. Shutes ranks seventh on The American scoring leaderboard, first among freshmen. She also holds the 13th-highest free throw percentage in the conference, connecting on 69 percent of her trips to the charity stripe. Alana Davis ranks second on the team in scoring and 14th in the conference, scoring 11.9 points per contest. Davis leads Memphis in rebounding with 7.8 boards per game, an average that stands fifth in the AAC. She has led the Tigers on the glass in 16 games this season, and has 12 games of 10 or more rebounds this 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.
// 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
UC trails U of M on the all-time series, 19-35, and are also behind in games played on a neutral floor, 1-5. However, the Bearcats have won the last five overall meetings, including both this season. In an 80-56 home in on Jan. 26, the Red & Black was led by Thomas' 19 points on 9-of-9 shooting from the field. Following, UC topped the Tigers, 89-69, on Feb. 13 in Memphis with junior guard Nikira Goings (Marietta, Ga./Osborne) pacing the team with 19 points, including five made 3-pointers. The two teams have never faced off in The American Championship.
// LAST TIME OUT
UC (20-9, 12-4 AAC) wrapped the regular season Monday with an 80-65 victory at Tulane. With the win, the Bearcats tallied 20 victories for the first time since 2003 and 12 league triumphs for the first time since 1999. UC led the entire game, but a 21-12 advantage after one quarter set the tone for the rest of the contest as the Bearcats dealt the Green Wave its fifth-consecutive defeat. The triumph was also the Red & Black's first in New Orleans since 2002. Thomas notched her sixth double-double of the season with game highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds. Miller added 16 points, six assists, and a career-high six steals. Junior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a block. In addition, junior guard Sam Rodgers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Lakota East) chipped in 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
// SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The trio of Thomas, Miller, and junior guard Florence Sifa (Bujumbura, Burundi/Jacksonville College) were each recognized on Friday with AAC regular season honors. Thomas was selected First Team All-Conference, Miller Second Team, and Sifa Newcomer of the Year. The recognition marks back-to-back years UC has had multiple AAC regular season honorees after Thomas won Freshman of the Year and Ana Owens was chosen for the Third Team in 2018. In addition, Thomas' selection is the Bearcats' first First Team selection in its six years in the AAC.
On Tuesday, Thomas was named American Player of the Week for the second time this season after averaging 15.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game as the Bearcats went 2-0 over the past week. On the year, she is 10th in the country in field-goal percentage at 60.5 percent from the field and is currently second-best in a season in program history. In addition, Rizor was tabbed for the Weekly Honor Roll after posting averages of 14.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in UC's pair of wins. Thomas has received weekly recognition by the league five times this season, including Player of the Week on Dec. 17, 2018. In total, the sophomore has garnered weekly AAC accolades 10 times in her young career. Tuesday's honor is the first of Rizor's career.
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 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game through 27 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 the previous 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, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game so far in 2018-19. Her assists per game mark (5.4) ranks second in the AAC and 27th in the country and her current 156 total assists ranks as fourth-best in a season in program history. Additionally, her assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) is 61st-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.
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 9.4 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 149.
UC's 12 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 seven.
Rodgers 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 14-2 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 (38-14) 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 TIGERS
Memphis (11-19, 5-11 AAC) overcame a 19-point deficit Friday in the American Championship First Round to top No. 6 seed Temple, 59-58. Gazmyne Herndon led the offense with 15 points and seven rebounds. Jamirah Shutes added 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Shutes is the team's leading scorer, netting 13.7 points per contest. Shutes ranks seventh on The American scoring leaderboard, first among freshmen. She also holds the 13th-highest free throw percentage in the conference, connecting on 69 percent of her trips to the charity stripe. Alana Davis ranks second on the team in scoring and 14th in the conference, scoring 11.9 points per contest. Davis leads Memphis in rebounding with 7.8 boards per game, an average that stands fifth in the AAC. She has led the Tigers on the glass in 16 games this season, and has 12 games of 10 or more rebounds this 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.
// 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.