University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
8-4
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Kansas
9-2
Kansas Hands Women's Basketball 73-56 Road Loss
12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. - The Jayhawks' hot shooting on their home court proved to be too much for the visiting Cougars Wednesday as the University of Houston women's basketball team rounded out its non-conference schedule by falling to Kansas, 73-56, in front of a New Year's Eve crowd of 1,376 at Allen Fieldhouse.
Houston drops to 8-4 on the season, including a 1-3 mark in road games. Kansas, meanwhile improves to 9-2 on the year.
Sophomore forward Courtney Taylor again led the way for the Cougars with 15 points on 5-of-17 shooting while also pulling down eight rebounds. Center Cobilyn Hill was reinserted into the starting line-up against KU after coming off the bench the previous four games and turned in a second straight strong performance with nine points and eight rebounds. Freshmen guards Roxana Button and Porsche Landry each chipped in with 10 points.
The Jayhawks were hot shooters right out of the gate, converting 26-of-62 field goal attempts for a 46.8 shooting percentage. Comparatively, UH was 22-of-66 from the floor for a 33.3 percentage.
Early in the contest, KU jumped out to an 8-2 advantage, but a lay-up by Hill at the 15:14 mark capped a 6-0 run by the Cougars which knotted the game at 8-8 and forced a timeout by Kansas head coach Bonnie Henrickson.
Out of the break, the Jayhawks reeled off seven straight points as UH's Joe Curl called a 30-second timeout to settle his team, which trailed 15-8 lead with 13:48 to play.
Throughout the first half, the game remained tight with the Cougars cutting the home lead to only one at 21-20 with 7:49 to play on a three-pointer by Button. UH was within a sticking distance minutes later just before halftime, but a turnover in the waning seconds led to a buzzer-beating three-pointer from KU's Ivana Catic which left the halftime score 36-28 Kansas.
Following the intermission, the Cougars claimed eight of the second half's first 10 points to pull within two points at 36-34 and just a few possessions later with 15:07 to play, UH again pulled to within two at 38-36 on a pair of free throws by Taylor.
However, the comeback effort fell short as KU continued its hot shooting down the stretch, led by a game-high 26 points from Danielle McCray, to earn its ninth win of the season.
For Houston, the KU game was the final non-conference tilt of the season and it will now enter Conference USA play as it travels to New Orleans to play Tulane on Jan. 9 before heading to El Paso to face UTEP on Jan. 11.
