University of Houston
6-7
TCU
9-3
TCU Escapes Women's Basketball, 66-61
12/31/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2009
HOUSTON - For the University of Houston women's basketball team the New Year cannot come soon enough as the Cougars closed out a difficult stretch of non-conference games by falling to TCU 66-61 in a New Year's Eve affair at Hofheinz Pavilion.
"Overall I'm really pleased with our performance especially with our effort," head coach Joe Curl said. "Our offensive rebounding was great in the first half and we played really hard against a really good team. Our schedule has been a grinder but no excuses; I thought we could be above .500 at this point in the season. The difference in this game was No. 4 (Helen Sverrisdottir). She played a great game and knew all the tricks of the trade. I'm very proud of our girls. We had the effort there for the whole ball game. We miss Courtney (Taylor) but at the same time it will make our depth and rotation better for conference play."
Sophomore point guard Porsche Landry led the way for the Cougars with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-18 shooting, while junior guard Brittney Scott joined her in double figure scoring with 12 points.
The setback was the fourth straight for the Cougars who slipped back under .500 on the season at 6-7, while the Horned Frogs, who are receiving votes in both major national polls, improved to 9-3.
For the game, UH shot 32.8 percent (21-of-64), while the Horned Frogs made 25-0f-57 field goals for a 43.9 shooting percentage.
Junior forward Lesslee Mason's rebound and put back gave the Cougars the lead at 12-11 with 11:21 remaining in the opening period, capping a 9-2 UH run during the game's opening stanza
Another Mason jumper pressed the Cougar lead up to 23-16, a seven-point advantage for their biggest of the opening period.
TCU, however, would answer to the tune of an 18-2 run to end the first half that recaptured the lead for the visitors and sent the Horned Frogs to the locker room leading. The Cougars were held to just one field goal during the half's final 6:41.
The opening minutes of the second half saw the lead expand to double-digits as TCU's Antoinette Thompson's layup with 18:40 on the clock made it 36-25 Horned Frogs.
Eight points, including a pair of 3-point baskets by Landry in a little over a minute and half cut the TCU lead down to just five, 45-40, with 13:10 to play.
Following a free throw by Jasmine Johnson, the Cougars had whittled the lead down to just four, 52-48, with 8:38 left on the clock. After an Horned Frog offensive foul, a 3-pointer by Roxana Button made it a single possession deficit and prompted a 30-second timeout from TCU coach Jeff Mittie to cool the UH shooters which had just completed a 9-2 run.
Out of the timeout, TCU scored six of the game's next seven points to regain a six-point advantage 58-52 with 4:26 remaining.
Scott sliced the lead back down to a single point again at the 1:42 mark as she made a pair of foul shot after getting hack on a drive to the basket.
A TCU basket by T.K. LaFleur and a pair of free throws by the Horned Frogs left UH with a 63-59 deficit, before a Landry jumper again pulled the Cougars within a basket, 63-61, with just 29 ticks left on the clock.
Emily Carter of TCU sank a pair of free throws to make the score 65-61 and ice the win to the Horned Frogs.
Thursday's contest was Houston's final non-conference tilt of the year and it will now begin final preparations for Conference USA play, which begins on Jan. 8 in New Orleans against Tulane. The week off will be very beneficial to the Cougars as they played Thursday without junior forward Courtney Taylor for the second straight contest. Taylor was one of three Cougar players to miss the TCU contest with an injury.
