Sports

Corpus Christi game carries new meaning

By Christian Schmidt
The Daily Cougar

What once looked like a pleasant diversion in the midst of an intense conference schedule has turned into something far more important for the Lady Cougars.

Brian Viney/The Daily Cougar

When the Houston womenis basketball team takes on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. tonight, the Cougars will be looking to end a three-game losing streak (their second such streak this season) and turn around a season that has rapidly descended from promising to an impending disaster.

The Lady Cougars are 10-10 overall and 2-6 in Conference USA play.

Early season wins over three Southeastern Conference teams, including then-No. 20 Georgia, had Houston soaring with an 8-4 record. But the start of the Conference USA schedule hit the Lady Cougars hard.

Now the team has lost six of its last seven games and needs a win tonight to stay above the .500 mark for the season.

Junior guard Chandi Jones and sophomore guard Shondra Bush have carried the scoring load for the Lady Cougars all season, accounting for 59.2 percent of the teamis offense. Against Texas Christian on Sunday, Jones and Bush scored 41 of the teamis 51 points (80.4 percent).

Jones ranks second in the nation in scoring with 26.9 points per game this season.

For the Lady Cougars to be successful again this year, the role players around Jones and Bush must step up and contribute to the scoring.

Jones and junior forward Nicole Oliver both rank in the top 20 nationally in steals per game. Jones averages 3.7 and Oliver averages 3.4.

The Lady Islanders are 12-11 on the season but a near perfect 9-1 at home. Add to that the Lady Cougarsi horrific road record of 1-6 in non-tournament play, and Houston may have all it can handle.

Seven different Lady Islanders have led the team in scoring in at least one game this year. Forward Kristin Rogers leads the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game and forward Terra Andrews is second on the club at 11.8 points per contest. Guard Amanda Bryant, who has started the past 15 games for the Islanders, has made 20 of 21 free-throw attempts this season.

On the positive side for UH, A&M-CC does not have the type of post presence that has troubled Houston this season. Several of the Lady Cougarsi losses this season can in part be attributed to their problems when they go up against a team with a dominant post player.

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