TicketsCINCINNATI – University of Cincinnati women's basketball continued its dominance inside Fifth Third Arena (FTA) Tuesday with a 68-62 season-opening win against Utah.
Dating back to last season, the Bearcats (1-0) have won seven-straight games inside FTA as well as 18 of their last 20 in the facility.
Preseason All-American Athletic Conference selections Antoinette Miller (Detroit, Mich./Southfield-Lathrup) and IImar'I Thomas (Oakland, Calif./Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep) paced the UC offense with 21 and 19 points, respectively. Senior forward Angel Rizor (Zebulon, N.C./East Wake) recorded the second double-double of her career with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In both teams' first game of the 2019-20 regular season, tight competition early on led to a 25-25 tie at halftime. UC came out of the break energized, outscoring the Utes (0-1) 25-17 in the third period to take a 50-42 advantage into the fourth. In the final segment, the Bearcats saw their once 11-point lead reduced three with under a minute left to play. Down the stretch, the home team iced the game from the free-throw line to come away with a big out-of-conference victory to start the year.
UC dominated Utah in the paint with 36 points, as well as with 17 points off of 20 Utes turnovers. The Bearcats also turned 12 offensive rebounds into 19 second-chance points. In addition, the home squad's bench chipped in 25 points.
// UP NEXT
UC will continue its season-opening homestand Sunday, Nov. 10 when it welcomes Saint Louis to Fifth Third Arena for a 2 p.m. tipoff. Buy tickets to the game here.
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