Despite a recent illness, redshirt senior guard Porsche Landry put on a stellar performance to help give the Cougars an 71-58 overtime victory against Delaware State.
Landry
“An hour before the game we didn’t even know if she was going to play. She had a severe stomach ache, and we thought she might have had food poisoning,” said head coach Todd Buchanan. “Sure enough, she played lights out.”
“Now they didn’t exactly help Porsche to the locker room after halftime, like they did Michael Jordan, but there was no question that she wasn’t feeling well, but yet responded to take this game over.”
Landry eclipsed the 30-point mark for the fourth time in her career, including 12 points in overtime. She also had nine assists and nine rebounds, just shy of a triple-double. The Cougars needed Landry to respond late after a sluggish start to the game, Buchanan said.
“I looked at them two or three different times and tried to get them excited,” Buchanan said. “We showed little to no emotion, and I’m not used to that.”
A 9-0 run gave the Cougars a 10 point lead at halftime, creating some breathing room. Early in the second half, the Cougars took control. Freshman guard Alecia Smith scored on a fastbreak layup to give the Cougars a 35-24 lead, their biggest of the day, with 17:52 remaining. Things started to get interesting when Delaware State put on a 24-7 run and had a six-point lead with just 5:53 left in regulation.
Then, Landry took over.
Senior guard Porsche Landry was one rebound and assist shy of a triple double. She scored 30 points, including 12 in overtime. Freshman forward Marche Amerson prepares to attack her defender from the wing. | Darla Tamulitis/La Vita Loca Photograph
She scored six points and had an assist down the stretch. With the Cougars down three, Landry, the smallest player on the court, grabbed an offensive rebound quickly put it back up for the bucket, making it a one-point game. On the next possession, she grabbed another offensive rebound then finished the possession with a fadeaway jumper to give UH the lead.
However, Delaware State dialed up a clutch play as well, Chelsea Dukes drilled a 3-pointer with seconds left in regulation to tie game and send it into overtime.
The Cougars took control early in overtime, as Smith hit a 3-pointer with 4:36 left. Following the long-ball by Smith, Landry put the game away with back-to back three-point plays. Landry said she just tried to be aggressive in overtime. Landry scored 12 of the Cougars’ 16 points in overtime.
“I tried to pick up the tempo a little bit. I wanted to get into attack mode so everybody else could come together and attack too. I just tried to set the tempo.”
The Cougars improved to 6-2 this season at home and will open Conference USA action against Memphis at 7 p.m. Thursday in Hofheinz Pavilion.
