Kansas Defeats Houston 73-56 in Women's Basketball on New Years Eve
Dec. 31, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Junior Danielle McCray ended 2008 by scoring 26 points to lead Kansas to a 73-56 victory against Houston in women’s basketball on a Wednesday afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse.
With the win Kansas improved to 9-2 on the season, including 6-0 at home. Houston dropped to 8-4.
With nine rebounds, McCray was one rebound shy of a double-double. Jayhawk sophomore center Krysten Boogard led all rebounders with 10 to also narrowly miss a double-double with eight points. KU junior guard Sade Morris scored 12 points and had five assists, while teammates Ivana Catic and LaChelda Jacobs each had a team-best six assists for the game. Houston sophomore Courtney Taylor led the Cougars with 15 points and eight rebounds.
McCray ignited KU with 18 second-half points. With the score 36-34, McCray scored 10 of KU’s next 12 points to give the Jayhawks a 48-39 lead with 11:56 to play. Like most of the game, Houston fought back yet KU would never relinquish its lead.
Kansas pulled away in the final five minutes of the contest and took its first double-figure lead of the game at 59-48 on a McCray jumper. The Jayhawks took their largest lead of the game, 71-53, on a Jacobs’ layup with 52 seconds remaining.
Kansas could not shake Houston in the first half. The Jayhawks led by as many as seven points on two different occasions – 15-8 and 27-20 – but the Cougars would rally to narrow the gap. Then with 1:30 left and the score 31-28, KU went on a 5-0 run, including a three-pointer by Catic at the buzzer to give the Jayhawks a 36-28 lead at intermission.
For the game, Kansas outran Houston scoring 13 fast break points to UH’s two. The Jayhawks held the Cougars to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and have held all but one opponent to under 40 percent shooting this season. KU also won the rebound battle 42-40.
Kansas will continue its three-game home stand when it hosts New Mexico State on Sunday, January 4 at 2 p.m. from Allen Fieldhouse. Junior Jayhawks will be taking over the Fieldhouse assisting with game day operations.
