For the first time in more than a month, the Cougars’ nightmarish run was put to rest.
UH (5-18, 1-11) had the hot hand early and never looked back, defeating Cincinnati (9-14, 2-10) on the road 48-39 for its first American Athletic Conference win and the first one for interim head coach Wade Scott since Todd Buchanan resigned on Dec. 21.
The win was the Cougars’ first outside of the city since defeating Tulane in New Orleans last season on Feb. 17.
Sophomore forward Marche Amerson led the way with a team-high 11 points. The Cougars had a balanced attack, as three others — sophomore guard Alecia Smith, senior center Yasmeen Thompson and senior forward Te’Onna Campbell — scored in double figures with 10 points each.
Unlike its previous games, UH started by clicking offensively and played defense for 40 minutes and not in spurts, which has been a large area of its struggles.
UH opened with a 28-12 lead early in the first half and kept the double-digit lead late until Cincinnati made it interesting by cutting the lead to seven with 4:54 remaining, but UH converted on 11 of their final free throws to secure the win.