by Andrew J. Ferraro
Daily Cougar Staff
Going into the final game of the season, the Lady Cougars (11-14, 4-9 in the Southwest Conference) are preparing to play a hot Texas Lady Longhorns team looking for an upset.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.
The No. 25 Longhorns (18-7, 13-1 in the SWC) are looking to take the SWC championship after defeating No. 9 Texas Tech 76-60 last Saturday.
Winning in Houston, combined with an unlikely Tech loss to Rice (13-12, 4-9 in the SWC) Saturday, would assure Texas of the No. 1 seed going into the Dr Pepper SWC Postseason Classic in Dallas next week.
Should Texas and Tech both finish the season tied, the Longhorns could still get the top seed based on the result of a coin flip.
"It would be nice to beat Texas, but I think that it is more important to try to correct the little things," Houston coach Jessie Kenlaw said.
During the last meeting in Austin, Texas defeated the Cougars 82-68 Feb. 3 to begin its current eight-game winning streak.
Texas shot 50.8 percent from the floor, including a combined 18-of-32, 41-point performance from freshman guard Vanessa Wallace and senior forward Erica Routt.
Houston was led by junior forward Pat Luckey, who scored 19 points on the night.
The Lady Cougars have the sixth seed going into the SWC tournament and will face either Southern Methodist (18-9, 8-5 in the SWC) or Texas A&M (17-10, 8-5).
The Lady Mustangs and Lady Aggies will meet today at 6:30 p.m. in SMU's Moody Coliseum for third place in the conference standings.
"We could fold up the tent and quit," Kenlaw said. "But we haven't, and I'm confident that we can win in Dallas."