A second-half rally almost secured the Cougars their second conference win of the season before falling 58-50 to Rice on Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion. | Joshua Siegel/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars fell short of an impressive comeback victory this Saturday against Rice 58-50.
The Cougars showed heart in the face of a large deficit, trailing by as many as 20 points late in the second half.
Freshman Terran Alford led the second-half charge.
Alford converted on all five of her field-goal attempts, finishing with 10 points and pulling down eight rebounds
Alford also set the tone defensively in the painted area by holding Rice forward Jessica Kuster, the second leading scorer in C-USA, to 4-14 shooting from the field.
As a team, UH held Rice to 23-percent shooting from the field.
A consistent Alford provides UH with a third option of offense. She could be the weapon that allows the struggling offense to flourish.
If the Cougars can put together a sound, three-pronged offense and continue to improve on defense, they could be competition for SMU on Thursday.
The Cougars need to build on Saturday and provide another great defensive effort to corral SMU’s junior guard, Alisha Filmore, who is averaging 10.6 points per game. In order to slow Filmore, UH must play great three-point defense because she is shooting over 38 percent from the field.
