University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Prairie View A&M
Lady Cougars Rout Prairie View at Home
12/5/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2001
Sophomore point guard Courtney Pastner nailed a career-high four three-pointers--including three in the second half-- for a game-high 16 points and two other Lady Cougars reached double figures in points as the University of women's basketball team routed Prairie View A&M by a final of 68-30 on Wednesday (Dec. 5) night at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The 30 points scored by the Lady Panthers ties the fifth-lowest score by an opponent in Lady Cougar history, and the fewest points scored by a Houston opponent since the Lady Cougars defeated UT-Pan American, 92-38, on February 25, 2000, at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Despite a less-than-stellar performance on the offensive side of the ball in the first half, the Houston defense shut down the Lady Panther offense on nine steals, including four from sophomore defensive threat Nicole Oliver, and capitalized on 14 Prairie View A&M turnovers in limiting the Lady Panthers to only ten points to enter half-time with a 25-10 lead. In the second half, Houston came out strong and increased their lead to as big 39 points (64-25) in the closing minutes of regulation.
Lady Panther Monica Grass turned in a nice night for Prairie View with a double-double on 14 points and 11 boards, while teammate Tanisha Lee added a game-high 15 rebounds.
Houston sophomore standout Chandi Jones and freshman Shondra Bush each joined Pastner in double figures for Houston with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Freshman KiKi Harris nabbed a career-high 11 rebounds, and Oliver finished with a career-high seven steals. She currently leads the Lady Cougar squad with 26 steals, a 3.7 per game average.
With the win, the Lady Cougars improve to 6-1 overall on the season, their best start since opening the 1991-92 campaign with a perfect 9-0 record.
Houston has a break until traveling to Starkville, Mississippi, the weekend of Dec. 15-16 to participate in the annual MSU Classic hosted by Mississippi State. The Lady Cougars will face Montana in the first round on Saturday, December 15 at 1:00 p.m., and then either Jacksonville State or Mississippi State on Sunday, December 16 at 1 or 3:00 p.m.
The Lady Cougars' next home game at Hofheinz Pavilion is not until December 30 when they host Oral Roberts at 5:00 p.m.
