UH women’s basketball redshirt sophomore guard Britney Onyeje scans the court as her teammates run an offensive set during a game against Wichita State on Dec. 30, 2020. | Andy Yanez/The Cougar
Houston dropped its third consecutive contest, a 80-51 loss against No. 18 USF, in a tough American Athletic Conference road matchup on Saturday.
Right out of the gates, the Bulls put up points on the board with a 3-pointer, but the Cougars responded with an and-one basket from senior guard Julia Blackshell-Fair, who finished with 10 points.
From there, USF took a quick 13-5 lead off of a couple Cougars turnovers. While both teams finished with plenty of giveaways, the Bulls separated themselves with 21 second-chance points. The Cougars had only eight.
One of UH’s second-chance baskets came from sophomore forward Jazmaine Lewis. The Cougars held on to this spark to score four more times, including a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Miya Crump, who put up 16 points for the Cougars in the loss.
After this shift in momentum, UH led 21-20 going into the second quarter.
The game stayed close in that period. The Bulls were able to regain the lead through free throws and shooting from the 3-point line.
Layups from Blackshell-Fair and freshman guard Laila Blair, along with another 3-pointer from Crump put the Cougars in front by five.
The UH women’s basketball team kept producing on offense and increased its lead to seven, but things changed when the Bulls started shooting lights out from behind the arc.
USF’s sophomore guard Maria Alvarez finished with six 3’s against the Cougars.
After more free throws for the Bulls, UH’s seven-point lead quickly turned into a USF seven-point lead.
The Cougars kept fighting, closing out the half with a hustle play from Crump and junior guard Dymond Gladney.
Quick buckets for the Bulls resulted in a 10-point game early in the third quarter, and from there, USF never looked back.
After leading by 14, Crump hit a 3-pointer to chip away at the Bulls’ advantage, but it wasn’t enough as USF’s shooting, including 41 percent from the 3-point line, was too much to overcome.
USF was on top by 20 as UH trailed 63-43 going into the final quarter.
Things seemed to only get worse for the Cougars in the fourth period as the Bulls continued to pile on the points.
UH was outscored 17-8 in the fourth period, leaving USF to run away with the dominant 29-point victory.
