For the second straight game, UH has accomplished something it hasn’t achieved all year. They captured their first road victory in a contest with Marshall on Sunday and when the Cougars defeated Southern Miss 81-70 Thursday, the team went over the .500 mark for the first time all season.
Both teams played well early on: There were six lead changes until UH went on a 10-3 run.
Junior forward Marissa Ashton put the finishing touches on the run as she buried a 3-pointer to give Houston a 19-13 lead with 11:13 left in the first half. After Southern Miss hit with a 3-pointer, senior point guard Porsche Landry responded with a 3-pointer.
The Cougars finished the half the way they started.
They ended the final six minutes of the first half on a 14-5 run, including holding the Golden Eagles to one field goal during that span to take a 38-28 lead into the half.
“We stayed in attack mode. We were real aggressive and very efficient with our transition offense,” said head coach Todd Buchanan.
Junior forward Te‘onna Campbell was big on the boards and defensively, Buchanan said. She grabbed an offensive rebound, leading to a Landry layup to open the game at a 15-point lead.
“I think Te’onna has definitely stepped up the past few games: her defense is tenacious, she’s all over the floor, real enthusiastic all over the floor, making her another threat against opposing teams,” Ashton said.
With the game seemingly under control, the Golden Eagles showed some fight as they came back. Senior guard Tanecka Carey hit her second 3-pointer of the game, and the Golden Eagles capitalized on turnovers along with sharp defense to go on a 9-0 run, cutting the lead to 57-48. After free throws by freshman forwards Jessieka Palmer and Tyler Gilbert went up by 12 points, Carey hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the Golden Eagles on an 18-5 run to get her team within six with 9:27 left to play.
“In a way we got comfortable within that span: we had to come together, regroup and come to realize we had to put the defense back on. In the timeout, Coach was saying we had to pick the intensity and the defense up if we wanted to win,” Landry said.
Buchanan said the Cougars need to keep playing well to garner another victory Sunday against UTEP.
“They’re very good. We’re going to have our work cut out for us. It’s going to be a war; it always is,” Buchanan said.
