The University of Cincinnati Women’s basketball team are currently 7-5. They were on a 3-game winning streak, but came up short against Marquette University this past Wednesday, 60-49. However, UC Women had their all-time high of 18 steals against Marquette. Malea Williams, the 6-foot-4 sophomore really showcased her shot-making abilities this past game. Williams ended the game with 13 points, two rebounds and two steals. Williams was the second-leading scorer against Marquette and Akira Levy was the leading scorer with 14 points.
This year, the Bearcats have been matched up with teams with various playing styles. Head Coach Michelle Clark-Heard said, speaking in regard to their non-conference schedule, “We have put together a mix of teams that will provide us great competition and a variety of styles of play. We have several teams that experienced postseason play last season, which will help prepare us for AAC.”
So far in the
season, the team is averaging 63 points per game and 37 rebounds. Most of the scoring can be
found coming from the starting guards, Akira Levy and Jillian Hayes. Levy is averaging 14.6
points per game and Jillian Hayes is averaging 11.3 points per game. UC’s biggest win was
against Alabama A&M and Bellarmine. UC Women won both these games with a 13-point lead. Arame Niang really contributed to the win against A&M. Niang had 11 rebounds during the A&M match-up. Niang has also been a strong defender in the paint for the season.
Head Coach Clark-Heard expressed to Anthony Mazzini, a play-by-play broadcaster for the University of Cincinnati, about maximizing their game leads and improving their ball handling. Currently, UC Women are averaging 18.7 turnovers compared to their opponents, who are averaging 17.1 turnovers per game.
UC only had one away game left in their non-conference schedule, they were supposed to be traveling to Nashville to play against Lipscomb University on Dec. 29th, but it got canceled due to covid on Lipscomb’s side. Now they will have to wait until they start AAC play, but hopefully they can keep up their positive momintum.
