UH women’s basketball keeps streak alive against UAB, Memphis

Houston improved its record to 13-9 overall and 7-1 in Conference USA with victories against Alabama-Birmingham and Memphis this weekend. The Cougars brought their winning streak to seven as they defeated UAB 80-76 Sunday after beating Memphis 70-54 Friday.

Senior guard Tye Jackson shot just 1-for-16 against the Blazers, but she grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and dished out 12 assists while netting 9 of her 11 points on free throws to earn her first career triple-double.

Jackson is only the third player in UH history and the fourth in C-USA history to record a triple-double. Her historic game against the Blazers, along with her performance against Memphis on Friday, earned her this week’s C-USA Player of the Week honor.

Four Cougars, including Jackson, ended the night scoring in double figures. Freshman center Cobilyn Hill finished with a team-high 19 points, senior guard Twiggy McIntyre had 18 points and freshman guard Courtney Taylor added 17, 5 of those in overtime, to the Cougars’ win.

Houston led for virtually the entire game, with its biggest lead coming with 18:32 left in the second half when the Cougars were up by 11. However, the Cougars could not put the game away and their lead began to shrink in the final minutes.

With six seconds left in regulation, UAB junior guard Britney Jones hit a game-tying 3-pointer to force the two teams into an extra period.

In overtime, the Cougars took the lead with 3:05 left on two converted free throws by McIntyre and never looked back as Taylor made two layups and Jackson converted 3-of-4 from the free-throw line down the stretch.

Against Memphis, McIntyre led the team with a game-high 22 points. Taylor scored 10 points and led the team with a career-high 15 rebounds. With 53 team rebounds, the Cougars more than doubled the Tigers’ total of 25.

The Cougars were forced into 26 turnovers, but were fortunate that the Tigers shot only 35.4 percent from the field. Houston turned 21 forced turnovers into 18 points while Memphis scored only 16 points off of turnovers.

Houston cruised to the 16-point victory, preventing Memphis from scoring a field goal in the final 7:59 of the game.

The Cougars were able to shoot 48.1 percent from the field in the second half, and 47.1 percent from behind the arc for the game.

The Cougars return to Hofheinz Pavilion for a two-game homestand against C-USA opponents Tulsa, at 7 p.m. Thursday and Southern Methodist at 2 p.m. Saturday.