Houston point guard Gigi Cooke fighting to get to the net during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, November 17, 2024, in Houston, Texas, | Gillian Wisniewski/The Cougar
Redshirt senior guard Leilani Augmon made both of her free throws with two seconds left in the game to propel the Cougars to a 54-52 victory over Houston Christian on Sunday. It was Houston’s first win following three losses to start the season.
UH jumped out to an early 7-2 lead to begin the game. With just under a minute remaining in the quarter, HCU’s junior guard Victoria Dixon splashed a jumper to even the score at 12 a piece.
A layup by senior forward Kierra Prim and two made free throws by Dixon gave the Huskies a 16-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Houston Christian remained ahead for most of the second quarter until the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to take a 31-29 lead ahead of halftime.
A made layup and free throw by Augmon followed by two free throws from senior guard Laila Blair gave the Cougars a seven-point lead and Houston led by as many as nine points in the quarter.
The Huskies did not back down as they responded with an 8-1 run to cut the lead to just two points.
Augmon swished a three to extend Houston’s lead to five points at the end of the third quarter.
HCU’s junior forward Jo Oly made back-to-back layups to pull within one point, but a layup by UH’s senior forward Peyton McFarland and a deep three by senior guard Eylia Love extended the lead to six points.
The Huskies went on a 6-0 run to tie the game but a last-second foul by senior forward Tiffany Tullis sent Augmon to the line where she made both.
Houston Christian had a chance to tie or take the lead with a bucket, but Blair stole the ball which secured Houston’s first victory this season.
Oly led the scoring for the Huskies with 12 points and picked up five boards. Dixon was a spark off the bench also finishing with 12 points in only 17 minutes of play.
Prim had nine points and an assist and senior forward Amy Cotton had a balanced stat line with three points, four assists and seven rebounds.
Love led all scorers with 14 points and also managed three assists and four rebounds. Augmon scored 10 points and picked up four rebounds.
McFarland scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds. Blair and sophomore guard Gigi Cooke both had a tough shooting performance as they combined for just 2-17 from the field for 11 points.
Rice outshoots the Cougars
The city of Houston was painted blue last Thursday as Rice defeated the Cougars 60-48.
In the first quarter, the Cougars and the Owls were neck and neck, with Rice leading 8-7 with 4:22 left before the Owls would end the quarter outscoring UH 11-3 to take a 19-10 lead.
Thanks to 12 points from off the bench in the second quarter, Rice would take a 36-23 lead heading into halftime.
Houston started the third quarter outscoring the Owls 11-5 six minutes in to cut Rice’s lead to five, but the women in blue would then score seven straight and outscore the ladies in red 9-3 the rest of the way to take a 49-38.
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars tried their best to keep up but to no avail, as Rice would put the bed with a 60-48 victory.
The Owls had three players score in double digits: junior guard Dominique Ennis led the team in scoring with 14, making four three-pointers; senior center Sussy Ngulefac scored 12 points on 6-7 shooting from the field and redshirt sophomore Hailey Adams had 10-9-2 with two blocks and a steal.
Cooke was the standout player for Houston, scoring 21 points on 50% shooting.
Houston will look to continue their momentum Thursday, Nov. 21, when they face off against Alcorn State at the Fertitta Center.
