Lady Coogs Play Tough but lose to Michigan State

First things first, Sunday's game between the Houston Lady Cougars and Michigan State Spartans started at 2pm. A few media outlets incorrectly reported the start time as 4pm. Perhaps that discrepancy in time resulted in the 414 fans in attendance at Hofheinz Pavilion. It's a shame the crowd was so small because the game was, to my surprise, very competitive. Michigan State (4-1) defeated Houston (0-4) 68 to 55.

Michigan State is a team from the highly touted Big Ten Conference while Houston hails from the lesser known Conference USA. Considering Michigan State boasts seven players who are listed as six feet one inch or taller (including 6'9 freshman center Allyssa DeHaan) compared to just two for Houston, Sunday's match-up was a "Goliath vs. David" in more ways than one. Unlike the biblical tale, Goliath won this match-up; but, David certainly put up a good, tough fight. In fact, DeHaan finished the game with just four points on 1 for 7 shooting as newest Lady Cougar Sunshine Misa-Uli (5'10, maybe 5'11 tops) muscled the tall, lanky freshman throughout the ball game.

The Spartans raced to a 10 - 0 lead at the start of the game as seniors Rene Haynes and Victoria Lucas-Perry scored all 10 points. Houston's Sha'Ratta Hawkins split two free throws to put the Lady Cougars on the scoreboard. However, Lucas-Perry hit two more three-point shots to put MSU ahead 18 to 4.

Hawkins scored Houston's first 9 points before teammate Ryan Bradley drained a jump shot and a three-pointer to pull the Lady Cougars within six (20-14) with 10:46 left in the first half. Lucas-Perry and Haynes, once again, responded with three-point baskets during a 10 to 5 Spartans' run to stretch Houston's deficit to 11 (30-19) with 6:51 left. Houston closed the half outscoring MSU 15 to 11 to head to halftime trailing the Spartans 41 to 34.

Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes. MSU hit 50% (15 for 30) while UH connected on 46.4% (13 for 28).

The second half was another story...

...Neither made a field goal until Lucas-Perry scored a lay-up at the 14:50 mark of the second half to give the Spartans a 46-36 lead. Houston freshman Ashlee' Joseph made a lay-up; junior point guard Maya Onikute hit a jump shot; and junior wing Whitney James split two free throws to narrow MSU's lead to five (46-41) with 12:57 remaining.

Following a jump shot by Lucas-Perry to give the Spartans an eight point lead (54-46) at the 8:22 mark of the second stanza, neither team scored until Haynes converted a lay-up at the 5:46 mark to give the Spartans a 10 point lead.

Houston's Ryan Meyers scored the Lady Cougars final basket of the game with 2:36 left in the game and Houston still trailing 61-52.

Houston never led in the ball game; and, Michigan State outscored Houston 23 to 12 in points off turnovers. However, the Lady Cougars battled on the boards (losing 38 to 37) and outscored the Spartans 17 to 12 in second chance points. Meyers led Houston with 12 rebounds while MSU's Aisha Jefferson pulled down a game-high 15 boards.

Hawkins led the Lady Cougars in scoring with 16 points while Lucas-Perry was the game's leading scorer with 21.

Houston's next game is on the road Thursday, November 30, versus West Virginia.