Today the Woman’s Basketball team welcomed Hosuton to Fifth Third Arena for Senior Day. The Bearcats were honoring their two seniors. Forward Ilmar’i Thomas and guard Addaya Moore. Earlier this week senior Ilmari Thomas became the 3rd player in Cincinnati history with 1700 points and 800 rebounds.
The Bearcats (4-14) (3-10 AAC) were looking to get back in the win column with a big win over (12-5) (9-4 AAC) Houston. The Bearcats struck first as Caitlyn Wilson came down and hit a three right out the gate which set the tone early. Wilson lead the way in the first quarter as she had six points all coming off three pointers. Wilson continued to shoot the ball lights out early on as she had nine points in the first 11 minutes all from three point range. The Bearcats trailed as much as 1 point at 18-17 before the Cougars took a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 31-19 at one point. What looked to be a big turn of events turned into a battle as the Bearcats locked in on defense, created lots of turnovers as well as getting stops put the Bearcats back in this game. They went down and scored on six straight field goal attempts at one point to get the run the needed to stay in the game. That run included Ilmar’i Thomas Getting to the hole, as well as Jillian Hayes knocking down her midrange jumper a few times. Hayes loves her midrange shot as it’s been a vital point for the Bearcats all season. The freshman has been very capable for those shots and isn’t scared to shoot as she knocks them down with confidence. The Bearcats trailed as much as 14 at one point in the 2nd quarter, but after they got settled in and locked down they cut the lead significantly as they went into half time trailing 39-35. The Bearcats leading scorers for the first half were senior Ilmar’i Thomas with 11, Caitlyn Wilson with nine and Jillian Hayes with seven. The big key from the first half was Houston’s Dymond Gladney as she finished the first half with 19 points. Gladney was knocking down shots from the jump including from deep, she set the tone early for the Cougars.
The second half the Bearcats dug themselves into another hole when the Cougars outscored them 24-11 in the 3rd quarter to push their lead over the Bearcats. The Cougars leading scorer in Gladney went ice cold in the second half only scoring five points, but that didn’t stop Miya Crump from getting the Cougars on the board. The junior ended up with 20 points as well as 23 from Gladney those two really set the tone for Houston. The Bearcats didn’t give up as they fought all the way to the end. The Bearcats fell just short as they couldn’t gain momentum after those two big runs by the Cougars and just couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole. The leading scorers for the Bearcats were Ilmar’i Thomas as she finished her Senior Day with 16 points and six rebounds, Caitlyn Wilson finished with 14 points (12 from three). Jillian Hayes finished her day off with 11 points, four rebounds and one block. Jadyn Scott finished with 11 points as well, Arame Niang wasn’t far behind with eight points of her own.
The Bearcats look to get back in the win column when they travel to Greenville, North Carolina to take on ECU on Wednesday the 24th as they will tip off at 6 pm.
