University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
7-17, 4-10
SMU
16-10, 8-6
Women's Basketball Loses 61-50 Road Matchup To SMU
2/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2007
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DALLAS - The University of Houston women's basketball team staged a valiant second-half comeback, but it fell short with a 61-50 loss to SMU in Conference USA action at Moody Coliseum Saturday.
Houston (7-17, 4-10 C-USA) trailed by as many as 18 early in the second half, before going on a 26-15 run to bring the lead down to seven at 48-41 with 4:58 left. The Cougars were unable to get closer and dropped their sixth-straight game.
SMU (10-15, 5-8 C-USA) was paced by 17 points from Janielle Dodds. Sharee Shepherd added 11 points and Elbie Gates added 10, all in the first half.
Tye Jackson (Houston, Texas/Westfield HS/Purdue) led the Cougars with 18 points, tying a season high with five three pointers. Ashlee' Joseph (Houston, Texas/Booker T. Washington HS) added nine points and 10 rebounds.
Alona Obaze (Dallas, Texas/Bryan Adams HS/Trinity Valley CC) scored nine points in a gritty 39 minutes despite suffering from a bout with the stomach flu.
UH shot just 30 percent (18-60) for the game and gave the ball up 19 times. Those 19 turnovers were converted into 25 points by the Mustangs. SMU was dominant on the boards and in the paint, pulling down 47 rebounds to UH's 39 and outscoring the Cougars 32-14 inside.
The Cougars will finish the season without a win on the road for just the second time in program history. The last came during the 1998-99 season, when the Cougars finished 0-12 in games away from Hofhieinz Pavilion. UH will finish the regular season 0-13 on the road.
UH was in a 32-15 halftime hole after shooting just over 22 percent and making only five field goals. After the Cougars took a 2-0 lead with 17:41 to go, SMU closed the half out on a 32-13 run, holding UH to a pair of field goal droughts over four minutes.
Jackson was limited to eight first-half minutes and Whitney James (Edmond, Okla./Edmond Memorial HS/North Oklahoma College) missed over 11 minutes while getting stitches for a cut sustained while diving for a loose ball. Gates came off the bench to score 10 in the opening half.
Houston finishes the regular season at Hofheinz Pavilion next weekend, taking on Memphis at 7 p.m. CST Thursday and UAB at 2 p.m. Saturday. The 2007 Conference USA Championship, presented by Aèropostale, is scheduled to run from March 1-4 at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla.
