Houston guard Kayla King (5) at the free throw line after getting fouled during an NCAA basketball match against Hampton on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 in Houston. | Simarjot Singh/The Cougar
UH women’s basketball team opened the 2026-27 campaign at home in the Fertitta Center in Houston on Monday, Nov. 2, against the Lady Pirates of Hampton. This was the first meeting in history between Houston and Hampton.
Hampton made a rally late in the game, but the Cougars held on to win their first game of the season by a score of 73-65.
The first quarter was back and forth for both teams, which included three ties. After the game was tied at seven, Houston made five of the last six shots, which included a three from sophomore guard Kayla King to help extend the lead.
King was fouled for a second time with 22 seconds left in the first quarter, made both free throws and extended the lead for Houston to 20-14. The first quarter ended with a steal by senior guard Raegan McCowan.
The second quarter started with the Lady Pirates getting two buckets to cut the lead to two, but sophomore center Elodie Lutbert added two buckets of her own to put Houston back up by six.
After a shot and one by Hampton, Lutbert blocked a shot and an uncontested three made by junior guard Esmeralda Enriquez extended the lead.
Hampton cut the lead to four after four free throws and a layup with three minutes left in the second quarter. After a foul committed by Hampton, Enriquez made her second free throw with two minutes left to put the Cougars up by five.
Enriquez made a layup and was fouled, took advantage of the and-one free throw with 28 seconds remaining to put Houston up by eight. Llompart added to the lead with a free throw of her own with less than a second in the quarter to put the Cougars ahead 37-29 at the half.
The Cougars came out to the third quarter with two layups by Lutbert and McCowan to extend the lead to 45-33 with seven minutes left in the third. Houston, after another layup by Lubert and a shot made by freshman forward Madison Carlton, extended the lead to 16.
The Cougars held the Lady Pirates score less for over three minutes before the media timeout with five minutes left. Hampton went on a 6-0 scoring run to cut Houston’s lead to 57-43 to end the third quarter.
Enriquez started the scoring in the fourth for Houston with two back-to-back layups to keep the lead at 16. Enriquez was fouled and added one more point via free throw to make the score 66-51.
Two straight threes by the Lady Pirates cut the Cougars’ lead in the fourth quarter, but the defense stayed composed to make sure the lead was not taken over by Hampton.
Hampton made a rally late, but the Cougars held on to take the win by a score of 73-65.
“It was a great test for us, to show us what we need to improve on,” McCowan said in the postgame press conference.
Head coach Matthew Mitchell, in his second year at the helm of the Cougars, hopes to build on the foundation as a big six-game Texas college home stand starts on Thursday.
“I thought the things we really been focused on and spent a lot of time on are starting to form,” Mitchell said. “We are really focused on our fundamentals and starting to build a bottom floor foundation of this team.”
The Cougars will be back in action on Thursday, Nov. 5, against Sam Houston State in the Fertitta Center.
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