The Cougars suffocated the Rattlers en route to the team’s fifth win of the year. | Oscar Herrera/The Cougar
Houston’s women’s basketball team defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers, 79-59 this Sunday afternoon at the Fertitta Center.
The Cougars held a comfortable lead for much of the game, led by junior forward Peyton McFarland’s career-high 21 points.
In the first quarter, the Cougars got off to a modest start into the 3rd minute tying the game against the Rattlers 6-6 with a layup by senior guard Laila Blair.
After the Rattlers answered back with a layup of their own, Blair responded with a three-pointer that allowed the Cougars never to look back. Along with a seven-point contribution from McFarland, UH grew its lead to 26-12 at the end of the quarter.
Continuing onto the second quarter, the Cougars grew their lead on a 7-0 run to make it 33-14. The Cougars immediately answered back with a jumper by graduate forward Bria Patterson assisted by junior forward Maliyah Johnson. Houston steadily increased their lead as the score read 44-21 at the end of the first half.
Kicking off the second half of the game, the Cougars picked up where they left off as Blair hit a three-pointer assisted by senior forward Djessira Diawara. Despite the steady scoring progression on both sides, both the Rattles and the Cougars found themselves in a series of misses and turnovers for two minutes.
It wasn’t until McFarland ended the scoring drought as she made a layup plus a foul to extend UH’s lead to 51-25. From there, both the Rattlers and the Cougars slowly went back and forth as McFarland and Johnson led the Cougars ahead at 66-40 by the end of the quarter.
Finally, into the fourth quarter, the Cougars finished off strong as McFarland and Blair led the team in points with McFarland at 21 and Blair at 15.
Houston improved to 5-1 on the season and will play its first road game of the season against Texas A&M Commerce Friday night.
