Box Score
Post-Game Interview with Mary Gleason (video)
HOUSTON – Houston Baptist scored a season-high 60 points on a season-high 48 percent shooting, but the host University of Houston Cougars slipped past the Huskies, 83-60, Saturday afternoon from Hofheinz Pavilion.
Shanice Steenholdt led HBU (0-10) with game highs of 30 points and 11 rebounds. She is the first Husky to score 30 or more points in a game since Jasmin Moore dropped 30 against Bacone on Feb. 9, 2008, and was the first time in the 12-year history of the women's basketball program that a Husky player has scored 30 or more points against an NCAA Division I opponent. Steenholdt finished six points shy of the program record of 36, set by Jere Adams at Texas A&M-International in the 2005-06 campaign.
Maisie Elston also had a big game, scoring a career-high nine points, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. She also set a new personal mark with seven assists, and also grabbed four rebounds.
Tayler Jefferson scored eight points and tied a career-high with four steals.
Houston (1-9) was led by Amanda Lawson with 24 points and nine rebounds. Roxana Button scored 22, Terran Alford added 14 and Michelle White came off the bench to score 10.
HBU came out firing to start the game, hitting its first five shots and scoring nine of the game's first 13 points, to lead by five, 9-4. A Button three put the Cougars down two, 9-7, and following a Husky turnover, looked to tie or take the lead. But Jefferson stole the ball, which resulted in a three-pointer, giving the Huskies a five-point advantage again, at 12-7, with 17:28 remaining against the reigning C-USA champions and NCAA Tournament participant.
The Cougars came back to tie the game at 12-all. After Steenholdt hit one of two free throws to give the visitors a one-point lead, UH took its first lead of the game on a jumper by White, right before the first media timeout at the 15:52-mark.
Steenholdt's jumper gave HBU a one-point advantage, at 15-14, but UH used a 10-3 run to lead by six, 24-18 with 11:47 remaining in the first half, prompting the Huskies to take a timeout. Lawson had scored seven-straight points for the Cougars before the timeout.
The break didn't cool Lawson, who scored six more points in a 12-3 run that gave UH a 36-21 lead with 6:34 left in the opening half.
The Huskies went on an 11-1 run to cut the deficit to just six, 38-32, culminated by back-to-back threes by Jefferson and Elston.
Houston would regain the momentum on a jumper by Button on the next possession, then a steal resulted in a three-pointer by Button. The Cougars closed out the first half on a 16-0 run to lead the Huskies 54-32, ended with a buzzer-beating trey by White.
The first half was the Steenholdt and Lawson Show, as Steenholdt had 16 points and six rebounds in the first 20 minutes, and Lawson had 20 points and five boards.
The Huskies started the second half crashing the net, as HBU went to the free throw line in its first two possessions, making three of four.
The teams went back and forth the entire second half, with Houston leading by no more than 22 until the final minutes, and HBU trailing by no fewer than 17.
Following a layup by Alford gave the Cougars a 69-47 lead with 12:02 remaining in the game, HBU went on a 5-0 run to trail by 17, 69-52, with 8:42 remaining, on jumpers by
Brittany Barton and Jefferson and a free throw by Steenholdt.
Following the third media timeout of the half, at the 7:50-mark, Houston went back up to 21 on a jumper by Lawson, a steal on the ensuing Husky possession, and a jumper by Button.
A Button jumper with 3:57 left in the game gave Houston its largest lead of the day, at 23, 79-56. The Huskies brought it to 19 on a jumper by
Olivia Madison and two free throws by Steenholdt, but the Cougars closed out the game scoring the final four points, on a jumper by Alford and a layup by Lawson.
HBU will host New Mexico on Sun., Dec. 18 at 2 pm.
