UIW Cardinals (7-8, 2-3 SLC) at HCU Huskies (7-9, 2-3 SLC)
Thursday, Jan. 19 – 5 p.m.
Sharp Gym - Houston, Texas
Watch (ESPN+)
Live Stats
HOUSTON – HCU women's basketball returns home to host the UIW Cardinals Thursday night in Sharp Gym at 5pm. The game can be watched live on ESPN+ with play-by-play from Garrett Jones with commentary from HOF coach Van Chancellor.
HCU (7-9, 2-3 SLC) is coming off back-to-back conference losses for the first time in the last two seasons. The Huskies dropped a close home contest to the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions late, on a missed three-point attempt at the buzzer before dropping a road contest to the Cowgirls of McNeese.
N'Denasija Collins continues her dominant season averaging career highs in points and rebounds with 13.1 and 7.3 respectively. Collins and Julija Vujakovic are both closing in on 900 career points and are looking to become just the 13th and 14th players in school history to join the 1000-point club. Vujakovic is second on the team in scoring this season, averaging 10.9 ppg. Marilyn Nzoiwu is second in rebounding, collecting 6.7 rpg.
Abbey Sutherland is coming off a career performance at McNeese where she set her new career high in points with 19 while knocking down 8-of-15 shots including 2-of-3 from downtown.
UIW (7-8, 2-3 SLC) has won back-to-back close games against the New Orleans Privateers and the Southeastern Lady Lions. Nina De Leon Negron is the only Cardinal averaging double-figures with 11.7 points, has dished out a team-high 46 assists, and leads the team in steals with 32. She is shooting 42 percent from the floor, 32 percent from three, and 70 percent from the foul line.
HCU and UIW last faced off in the conference tournament last season where the Cardinals raced passed and eliminated the Huskies before eventually winning and advancing to the NCAA tournament. HCU however, has won eight of the last nine meetings against the Cardinals dating back to 2018.
HCU returns to action Saturday afternoon in Sharp Gym when they host the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at 2pm.
