Coogs Lose to Jags

The Houston Jaguars defeated the Houston Lady Cougars 83 to 80 in front of a very, very empty Hofheinz Pavilion Friday night.

The final score isn't important to me because the game was an exhibition game. The Jaguars took advantage of horrid free throw shooting by UH (15 for 30) to trim a 10 point halftime deficit throughout the second half.

The Jags finally took the lead 77 to 76 on a put back basket by former Lady Cougar Darla Simpson with under two minutes left in the game.

If you check out the box score, fans of the WNBA and local college teams will see a few very, very familiar names on the Jaguars' roster: Barbara Turner, Marla Brumfield, and Umeka Webb.

The Lady Coogs played passively down the stretch and their transition defense was awful in the second half. UH missed far too many lay ups which helped to account for much of the frigid field goal shooting in the second half (29%, 11 for 37).

After scoring 12 points in the first half, UH's Twiggy McIntyre scored only five points in the second half. McIntyre made just one of her six shots in the second half; and, more importantly, McIntyre did not play aggressively down the stretch when her young teammates needed someone to stop the proverbial bleeding as the Jaguars closed the game with a finishing run.

Despite tonight's woeful showing in the second half, the Lady Cougars should still have a successful 2007 - 2008 season. UH opens the season next Friday, November 9, with a 5:30 tip-off versus Texas Southern.