Britney Onyeje’s 20 points led the way for the Cougars against UCF. | Esther Umoh/The Cougar
A fourth-quarter comeback for the Houston women’s basketball team fell short as it suffered its first conference loss of the season to the UCF Knights 62-59 on the road on Tuesday.
The Cougars’ six-game winning streak was snapped as the Cougars now fall to 2-4 on the road this season.
The first quarter of action saw both teams combine for six turnovers and no points in the first 2:56 of the game until a UCF free throw opened the scoring.
Suffocating defensive effort by both teams carried into the early going as the first field goal of the game came at the 5:21 mark of the quarter.
An even quarter had both teams held at a 7-7 score with two minutes left before a late exchange of points that gave the Knights a 14-12 lead heading into the second quarter.
The first quarter ended with 13 turnovers combined between both teams.
The Knights opened the second quarter on an 8-2 run in five minutes to lead 22-14 entering a timeout.
Despite seeing good opportunities to get back in the game, the Cougars struggled to get any offense going as UCF outscored UH 15-5 in the second quarter.
Senior forward Fatou Diagne led the Cougars in scoring at the half with four points while senior forward Tatyana Hill recorded three rebounds and two points.
The Knights outshot the Cougars from the field in the first half with 54.5 percent compared to UH’s 26.9 percent.
To start the third quarter both teams struggled to put possessions together as UCF outscored UH only 5-3 in the first five minutes of the period.
The Cougars found momentum late in the third quarter as they sparked a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to seven before the Knights responded with a 9-1 run late to lead 43-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Entering the fourth quarter, UH jumped on a 14-5 run in the first 4:04 to cut the deficit to 48-42.
After the timeout, both teams traded points as junior guard Britney Onyeje produced a 9-0 run of her own followed by 3-pointers from junior forward Bria Patterson and sophomore guard Laila Blair to tie and lead 57-54 with just under three minutes left in the game.
Free throws helped UCF regain the lead late as UH could not equalize as the clock hit zeros, ending the Cougars’ late comeback.
Onyeje finished the game with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists while Patterson finished with 11 points, four rebounds and one assist.
