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Women's Basketball Streak Ends With 74-51 Loss To SMU
Feb. 9, 2008
HOUSTON - The University of Houston women's basketball team went through a seven-minute scoreless streak in the first half and never recovered, falling to SMU 74-51, Saturday in Conference USA action on Guy V. Lewis Court at Hofheinz Pavilion. Houston (14-10, 8-2 C-USA) saw its eight-game winning streak come to a halt. The Cougars never led in the game and failed to get the margin under 20 points in the second half. SMU (17-6, 7-3 C-USA) won its third-straight game and led by as many as 30 early in the second half. The Mustangs were over 40 percent from the field (26-for-63) and outrebounded UH 51-44. "Give SMU credit, they came in here and hit shots," interim head coach Danny Hughes said. "We struggled in the first half to create any sort of consistency offensively and that hurt us. Sometimes, a loss can be a good thing. It helps you re-focus your efforts and continue to get better as a team." The Mustangs' Janielle Dodds and Brittany Gilliam tied for the game high with 17 points apiece. Dodds also had seven rebounds. Sharee Shepherd pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Katy Cobb came off the bench to score 10. Houston never got in an offensive rhythm from the opening tip, going 3-for-10 in the opening five minutes and making only six field goals in the final 15 minutes of the half. The Cougars finished 19-for-70 (.271) from the field and 4-for-19 (.211) from behind the arc. Jasmine Johnson (Omaha, Neb./Omaha Central HS) had a breakout game, scoring a career-best 14 points in 27 minutes. She was the only UH player in double figures and was 6-for-7 from the field with a pair of three pointers. The Cougars younger players saw extended minutes in the second half and several responded with season-best performances. Zane Jakobsone (Riga, Latvia/Trinity Valley CC) scored a career-high eight points and Brittany Mason (LaPorte, Texas/LaPorte HS) had seven rebounds and a block. Courtney Taylor (Crockett, Texas/Crockett HS) played only 15 minutes after suffering a leg injury early in the second half. She finished with four points, five rebounds and two blocks. Her status is day-to-day. UH was in a 23-point halftime hole after making only nine field goals in the opening 20 minutes. The Cougars were 9-for-37 from the field and 1-for-11 from behind the arc. Houston went over seven minutes without scoring a field goal and SMU scored 15 unanswered points to lead 43-18 just before halftime. A jumper in the final second by Courtney Taylor (Crockett, Texas/Crockett HS) enabled UH to avoid its lowest scoring output in a half this season. The Cougars start a four-game road swing at league-leading UTEP Thursday at 8 p.m. CST. Fans can listen to a free internet radio broadcast of all UH games this year by clicking on the Stretch Internet Broadcast link at UHCougars.com. Streaming video for all home games will also be made available through the All-Access package at UHCougars.com.
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