University of Houston
-1010; 43 CUSA
SMU
-155; 52 CUSA
SMU Downs Women's Basketball, 74-67
1/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2010
HOUSTON - A strong start could not propel the University of Houston women's basketball team to a win on Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion, as the Cougars fell to SMU 74-67 in Conference USA action.
The loss drops the Cougars' over record to an even 10-10 on the season while their mark in C-USA games falls to 4-3. SMU, meanwhile, improved to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in league play.
Junior guard Brittney Scott led Houston in scoring with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting, while classmate Courtney Taylor contributed 15 points and seven rebounds in the effort. Sophomore point guard Porsche Landry chipped in with 11 points, all of which came in the game's first half.
The Cougars were hot out of the gates, making their first four shots of the game and building a 9-2 lead on a Taylor 3-pointer with 18:10 to play.
SMU cut the home advantage to just two points, but later in the period Houston used an 11-2 run to take control. The spurt was highlighted by 3-pointers from Landry, Scott and Taylor to take a 26-13 lead with 10:38 to play and force a time out by SMU coach Rhonda Rompola.
The Cougars recorded seven assists on their first 10 baskets of the game.
Despite leading by as many as 13 in the half, Houston could not maintain its impressive play the entire stanza as SMU used a 9-0 run to close the period and take a 35-34 advantage into halftime.
After the teams retook the court, it was the Mustangs who were the aggressor as they had been at the end of the opening period. SMU outscored the Cougars 17-6 during the period's first 10:45 to push their lead to a dozen at 52-40 on a 3-pointer by Samantha Mahnesmith with 9:15 to play.
The visitors' lead swelled to as many as 13 at 54-41 and again 56-43 to match the Cougar's biggest advantage of the first half.
Houston rallied by using a 9-2 lead to propel them back into the game and pull within six points at 58-52 on a 3-pointer from junior Jasmine Johnson with 5:30.
A steal and lay-up by junior Megan Morton cut it to only a single possession game at 61-58 with 2:47 to play, but that would be as close as the Cougars could get in their effort to retake the lead. The Mustangs made 9-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe in the game's final 1:10 to seal the road victory.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will make the short trek to Rice on Thursday as they face the cross-town rival Owls on Thursday for the first Conference USA meeting of the year between the schools. Rice will return the trip and visit Hofheinz Pavilion during the regular season finale on March 4.
