HOUSTON, Texas – In a game that saw HCU lead by seven and trail by nine, it was a pair of free throws with two seconds left that proved the difference as the Huskies dropped a 54-52 decision to Houston inside the Fertitta Center on Sunday afternoon.
Scoring was hard to come by early for both teams with the Cougars (1-3) taking a 7-2 lead with 4:31 left in the first quarter. Just over two minutes later, however,
Makolla Bagayegou evened the score at 10-10 on a jumper in the paint. A pair of free throws from Eylia Love put UH back ahead but the Huskies (0-3) scored the next six points of the game with
Victoria Dixon scoring four and
Kierra Prim adding two to take a 16-12 lead at the end of the period.
The Huskies maintained their lead as the second quarter got going, reaching seven, 25-18, after consecutive buckets from
Amy Cotton and Prim. Houston whittled the HCU lead down as the quarter wore on, scoring the final seven points of the half to lead 31-29 at the intermission.
The hosts then scored the first five points of the second half for a 36-29 advantage. After trailing by as many as nine, HCU used an 8-1 run, capped by a three-pointer from
Erin Maguire, to cut it down to two, 44-42, before heading into the final period trailing 47-42.
Jo Oly dropped in a pair of layups early in the fourth to again cut the HCU deficit to one, 47-46, The Cougars answered, scoring the next five points to go up, 52-46. The Huskies' defense clamped down, however, over the next seven minutes as they pulled even, 52-52, on a Prim free throw at the 2:33 mark. The score remained knotted until a foul was called on HCU's
Tiffany Tullis with just two seconds left that put Leilani Augmon at the line for two free throws, which she converted for the 54-52 final.
Dixon and Oly each scored 12 to lead the Huskies with Oly also pulling down five rebounds. Oly was 6-of-11 from the floor while Dixon connected on 5-of-11. Prim scored nine for HCU while Tullis added seven points and nine rebounds.
The Huskies were again strong on the boards, holding a 37-34 advantage in rebounding. HCU ended the afternoon shooting 42.3 percent (22-of-52) from the field but struggled from the foul line, connecting on just 40 percent (6-of-15). The Cougars, meanwhile, shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) on the day but were at 82.4 percent (14-of-17) from the free throw line.
The Huskies will be at home for their next three and seven of their next eight beginning this Thursday, Nov. 21, against Utah Tech at 6:00 p.m. in Sharp Gym.
