Courtney Taylor and Lesslee Mason continued their dominance of opposing C-USA frontcourts as each notched a double-double on Thursday. For Taylor, it was the 56th of her career with 12 points and 12 rebounds. | Aaron Cisneros/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars moved another win closer to locking up the top spot in Conference USA with a 72-56 victory over Tulsa on Thursday.
Strong defense powered the Cougars (21-4, 12-0 C-USA) to easy baskets in the first half as they forced the Golden Hurricane (5-15, 1-11) to shoot 8-of-31 from the field, and not allowing any Tulsa players to reach double figures.
The rigors of conference play have not affected UH as they have cruised to victories by at least 12 in their last four games.
The frontcourt tandem of Courtney Taylor and Lesslee Mason also overwhelmed Tulsa as each achieved double-doubles. Mason led all scorers with 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in only 22 minutes. Taylor reached her 16th double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 boards. Taylor also blocked three shots. Together they shot 9-of-17 from the field and 12-of-14 from the line.
The Cougars advantage on the scoreboard allowed them to get 11 players into the game. Porsche Landry was an efficient 4-of-6 from the field for nine points. She also grabbed six rebounds and handed out three assists.
Despite holding a sizable lead for the entirety of the game, the Cougars never lost focus, connecting on 20-of-23 free throws.
With the victory the Cougars are guaranteed at least a share of the regular-season C-USA title. The Cougars next victory will clinch them the top seed in the C-USA postseason tournament as both Rice (16-10, 8-4) and UCF (15-10, 8-4) trail them by four games.
The Cougars will take on UTEP (13-11, 5-7) at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hofheinz Pavilion. A victory will give UH sole possession of the conference title.
