Tonight, The Bearcats (5-4) traveled right up the road to Cintas to take on crosstown rival Xavier (6-3). The Bearcats are coming off a 66-58 loss to UIC on Sunday, while the Musketeers come into this one on a two-game losing skid. Michelle Clark-Heard and the Bearcats will look to make it four in a row versus the Musketeers, as Melanie Moore is searching for her first win over crosstown rival Cincinnati.
The Bearcats know what is at stake for this one, but they are led by Mya Jackson, who has a lot of experience versus Xavier after spending her first three seasons in the Big East. Jackson, averages 18.8 points in her five career games versus the Musketeers. However, Jackson knows a thing or two about Cintas Center as she averages 22 points per game in her three games at Cintas Center, could she make that four straight here tonight? We will have to see.
The Bearcats would come out and look to establish the ball inside early as their first possession would consist of four early offensive rebounds before Jillian Hayes would get the scoring started here at Cintas. The Cincinnati native would look to put on for her city as she scored six of the first eight for the Bearcats. Coach Heard and the Bearcats were really looking to crash the class early as they out rebounded the Musketeers 9-4 through the first 6 minutes where they lead the Musketeers 8-6. The Musketeers would take an 9-8 lead over the Bearcats after the Musketeers held the Bearcats scoreless for roughly four minutes before Hayes would connect from the stripe to give the Bearcats a 10-9 lead late in the first quarter.
The Musketeers would take a 13-10 lead heading into the second quarter, as the Musketeers were doing a great job at getting downhill and attacking the rim as 10 of their first 13 points came from within the paint. The Bearcats were struggling to find anything offensively early outside of Jillian Hayes, as she had eight of the Bearcats first 10 points.
The Musketeers would hold an 19-14 lead with 4:42 remaining in the first half, as the Bearcats continued to get anything going offensively as Hayes had 12 of the first 14 for the Bearcats. The Musketeers were doing a tremendous job at taking Mya Jackson out of the equation, as she started the game 0-of-6 from the field and that was a huge factor early for coach Heard and the Bearcats, as they needed the senior guard to get going or else it could get out of reach quickly.
The Bearcats would trail 26-17 at the break after shooting just 6-of-31 from the field in the first half. Hayes led the way with 13, but the Bearcats couldn’t find anything else on the offensive end in the first half. The Musketeers did a great job containing Mya Jackson, who leads the Bearcats in scoring to 0 points in the first half, as she started 0-of-7 from the field. The Bearcats knew they’d have to come out of the break with some energy or the Musketeers would look to put this one away quickly.
The Musketeers would lead the Bearcats 34-26 with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter as the Bearcats looked to climb back into this one down the stretch. The Bearcats threw out a 3-2 zone in hopes to get some stops on the defensive end and put some points on the board. The Musketeers continue to take away the deep ball as the Bearcats have been very effective from behind the arch, but the Bearcats would be held to 0-of-5 from behind the arch through the first 30 minutes.
