UW Taken Down by Houston, 86-61
November 26, 2004 | Women's Basketball
A dominating performance by Houston in the second half proved too much for the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team as it fell to the Lady Cougars 86-61 Friday night at Hofheinz Pavilion in the Houston Classic.
Freshman Jolene Anderson collected a team-high 18 points, including eight in the first half, as UW (2-1) shot 50 percent from the field in that period en route to a 36-35 lead.
But the Lady Cougars (4-0) answered with 51 points in the next half to get the victory. Four players scored in double-digits, including Sancho Lyttle, who led with 22, and Joann Overstreet, who added 21.
Houston also out-rebounded Wisconsin 50-39 and committed 15 turnovers to UW's 26.
'We played a tremendous first half, but the story of the game was the start of the second half,' head coach Lisa Stone said. 'We gave Houston too many second-chance opportunities, which got their momentum going. We hung in there, we battled, and we're going to learn a lot from this experience. '
Junior Jordan Wilson tallied 10 points and seven rebounds, and senior Stephanie Rich had nine points and six assists for the Badgers, who got their largest lead (16-8) 7:21 into the game.
Wisconsin relinquished that lead only twice (one tie) until 14:02 remaining in the contest, when Daphne Andre's jumper put Houston ahead 46-45. She finished with 20 points.
That was the start of a six-and-a-half minute scoring drought by the Badgers, putting them behind by 15 points before Wilson converted the second of two free throws.
'We had some good looks at the basket, but our shots were a little rushed,' Stone said of the drought. 'We were pressing, and they picked up their defensive intensity. Had we knocked a couple of those down, maybe we would have picked up our intensity as well.'
The Badgers ended up shooting 39.3 percent for the game. They were 5-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half, but were just 4-of-14 in the second.
UW concludes play in the tournament when it meets Middle Tennessee State for a 2 p.m. contest tomorrow.
