The Bearcats were looking to keep the ball rolling after picking up their first conference win on Saturday after defeating the Green Wave 53-50. The Bearcats (8-14, 1-8 AAC) will look to build some momentum off that as they welcome in the University of Central Florida Knights (10-10, 1-7 AAC) in a late-night conference battle in their annual Play4Kay game.
Coach Heard and the Bearcats have changed the starting lineup for 14 games this season with eleven of those 14 averaging double-digits minutes per game. Coach Heard has been known to quickly rotate players in and out to stay to stay fresh, but we will see what happens tonight here at Fifth Third Arena. The starting five for the Bearcats consisted of Mya Jackson, A’riel Jackson, Taziah Jenks, Jillian Hayes and Clarissa Craig.
The Bearcats were looking to attack the glass right off the rip as Taziah Jenks would grab a huge offensive rebound on the first possession as she gave the Bearcats the first points of the game on the putback. The Bearcats established the ball inside early as they sparked an early six-point run and the Knights were forced to call timeout early. Taziah Jenks and Clarissa Craig would combine for eight of the team’s first ten points, all of them within the paint. The Bearcats would be held without a field goal for the last 5:44 of the first quarter, but still had a 15-10 lead after the first quarter behind pairs of free throws from Jenks and Mya Jackson.
The Bearcats were dominating the paint early as the Knights had no answer for the Bearcats as they outscored the Knights 12-0 early on points in the paint following a Jillian Hayes made basket. The Knights would rally back and cut the Bearcats seven-point lead following a huge three-point play from Kiera Brown to make it 21-19 with five minutes remaining in the first half. Jillian Hayes was continuing to affect this game on both ends of the floor and the Knights had no answer on how to stop the Bearcats in the paint.
The Bearcats would take a 28-25 lead after a great first half performance from Jillian Hayes, who had a near double-double with eleven points and eight rebounds. Taziah Jenks was a game changer for the Bearcats early as she had eight points and five rebounds, but really used her length to make it difficult for the Knights to get going in the first half. The Bearcats outscored the Knights 18-8 in the first half and was the difference maker in the first half here at Fifth Third Arena.
The Knights would cut the Bearcats lead to just one before committing consecutive turnovers allowing the Bearcats to regain a 34-29 lead with six minutes left in the third quarter. Mya Jackson would make this an eight-point game following a three-point play, just her second field goal of the night. However, the Knights would slowly chip away at the Bearcats lead as they made this a 42-41 game with under a minute remaining in the third quarter. The Bearcats would stay poised as they held the Knights without a field goal the final 2:33 of the third quarter as they led 45-41 following a huge made three from Braylyn Milton at the buzzer.
The Knights would cut the Bearcats lead to three after a made three from Rachael Ranke, but the Bearcats would respond immediately, this time it was Braylyn Milton. Mya Jackson forced the Knight turnover then proceeded to find Milton out and running to make this a 51-46 game with under six minutes left. The Knights would tie this one up following a five-point run with just under four minutes left following a huge three from Rachel Renke. The momentum was quickly shifting to the Knights, after expanding their lead to 56-51 with just over two minutes left, as Renke knocked down another triple at the biggest time of the game for the Knights. The Bearcats would trail 58-57 after a Knight turnover led to a made layup by Hayes with just under one minute remaining.
However, The Bearcats had an opportunity to tie this one up and force overtime, but gave the ball right back to the Knights on the inbounds play. The Bearcats just couldn’t finish down the stretch this evening and get the job done despite a night where the dominated the paint and outscored the Knights 28-18 behind a double-double from Jillian Hayes (17/13). The Bearcats saw a great night from Taziah Jenks who finished with 10 points and six rebounds, but outside of those two the Bearcats struggled to get anything going offensive shooting just 31% from the field.
The Bearcats fall to (8-15, 1-9 AAC) on the season and will look to find their way back in the win column this Saturday at 2 pm when they travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Temple.
