Porsche Landry and the Cougars were not given a warm welcome on their recent road trip, going 0-2 in games against Southern Miss and Central Florida over the weekend. | David Shih/The Daily Cougar
The Cougars took to the road this weekend with a dose of bad news fresh on their minds, as head coach Joe Curl was admitted to a Houston hospital just one day after being released from a Dallas hospital because of chest pains.
They returned home in worse shape than they left after dropping a pair of Conference USA games to Southern Miss and Central Florida.
UH point guard Porsche Landry put on a show Saturday night against UCF, racking up a season-high 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting.
But her breakout game wasn’t enough as the Cougars fell 78-66 to the Knights at UCF Arena in Orlando, Fla.
Landry also dished out three assists and received help from forward Courtney Taylor, who made eight of 15 shots for 20 points to go along with eight rebounds. UH shot 42.2 percent for the game.
Chelsie Wiley paced UCF with 20 points and six rebounds.
UH fell to 13-13 overall and 7-6 in C-USA. UCF, meanwhile, improved its record to 8-14 and 5-8 in league play.
UH was able to cut the lead down to six on two occasions during the first half, but UCF came roaring back on an 8-0 run to head into overtime up 41-26. UH shot just 38.7 percent in the first half compared to the Knights, who made 16 of 30 shots for a 53.3 shooting percentage in the first half.
In the second half, Houston found itself down 53-42 with 11:33 remaining, but rallied to draw to 53-49 with 9:29 left.
Landry was fouled after converting a layup with 5:14 to play and nailed the free throw to cut the Knights’ advantage to three points, but the Cougars never got any closer.
A 7-0 run by UCF pushed its lead back to double-digits at 67-57 and clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch sealed the win for the Knights.
UH will close out the regular season with a three-game home stand at Hofheinz Pavilion, starting when the Cougars take on UTEP at 7 p.m Thursday. UH faces Tulane on Saturday before honoring the lone senior on this year’s roster, Ashlee’ Joseph, on March 4 during the regular-season finale against in-town rival Rice.
The Cougars will need to come out stronger offensively at home. The loss at UCF marked the second consecutive game in which UH fell behind early and failed to hold a lead at any point.
UH will also need to step up its performance on the boards. The Cougars were out-rebounded 55-28 leading to a 22-8 advantage in second-chance points for UCF.
UH was also lacking in the rebounding column against Southern Miss with a disadvantage of 49-34 in the loss.
