University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
-115; 31 CUSA
Memphis
-810; 14 CUSA
Women's Basketball Rolls Memphis, 83-65
1/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2009
HOUSTON - Behind sophomore guard Brittney Scott's career-high 25 point performance and an overwhelming defensive effort that forced 23 turnovers, the University of Houston women's basketball team defeated Memphis, 83-65, Sunday to remain perfect this season at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The Cougars improved to 11-5 on the year, including a 3-1 mark in C-USA play, a record that ties them with Central Florida, Marshall, SMU, Southern Miss and UTEP atop the league standings. For Houston, which never trailed in the contest, the win is also the fourth wire-to-wire victory this season at Hofhienz Pavilion where the team is an unblemished 8-0. Memphis, meanwhile, falls to 8-10 on the year and 1-4 in C-USA action.
Sophomore forward Courtney Taylor logged her 20th career double-double with 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, while Scott made 11-of-22 shots, including three from long distance, to notch her highest single game point total as a Cougar.
Freshmen Roxana Button and Porsche Landry also chipped in during the effort by finishing with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
The Cougar defense started out strong in the contest, which would be a trend that continued all afternoon, by forcing four early Memphis turnovers and causing them to misfire on their first nine shots from the floor. The early pressure allowed UH to get its offense going early and build a 10-2 lead just six minutes into the game.
After the Tigers' first basket of the game at 13:49, Scott drained a three-pointer to push the Cougars' lead to 13-4 and force a timeout from Memphis head coach Melissa McGerrin to settle her team.
Megan Morton's three-pointer at the 10:29 mark of the period helped the Cougars' lead again reach double-digits at 19-9.
After 6-0 Memphis run got the visitors back into the ballgame and left them trailing by only four at 21-17 with 8:07, the Cougars responded with a 17-2 run over the next 4:56 to take a 38-19 lead and reassume command of the game. The Cougar defense was relentless, holding the Tigers without a field goal for the period's final 8:50 to send UH to the locker room leading 38-23. During the opening period, the Cougars forced 17 Tiger turnovers and held them to just a 17.9 shooting percentage.
After halftime, the Cougars continued to roll as they shot a blazing 54.8 percent from the floor after halftime en route to 45.1 percent for the game. The home lead swelled to as many as 23 on a jumper by Ashlee' Joseph with 13:15 to play.
The 82 the Cougars put on the scoreboard Sunday was a season high for UH, topping 80-point outings against North Texas and Buffalo.
Houston is back in action on Thursday when it travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., to battle Southern Miss in a 7 p.m. C-USA contest.
