Houston Cougars thumped by Tulsa Golden Hurricane 77-48

Posted: January 19, 2012 -- 11:37 p.m. CT.

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- The Houston Cougars played roughly 10 good minutes of basketball Thursday night versus the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Unfortunately, college basketball games are at least 40 minutes and length; and, the Golden Hurricane thumped the Cougars 77-48 in front of 324 fans spread throughout spacious Hofheinz Pavilion.

Houston's Michelle White drained a three-point shot to put the Cougars (2-15 overall, 1-4 conference) ahead 5-4. The Coogs never led the rest of the ball game.

The Cougars went ice cold from the floor while the Golden Hurricane (8-8, 3-2) scored 19 consecutive points during a seven minute stretch of the first half.

Danielle Parks converted a three-point play to end the scoreless drought and reduce the deficit to 15 points (23-8); however, Tulsa outscored the Cougars 10-3 to lead by 22 points (33-11) with 7:39 remaining in the first half.

Trailing by 22 points, the Cougars played their best ball of the game and outscored the Golden Hurricane 15-0 for nearly the rest of the half. Key word: nearly. Tulsa's Taleya Mayberry swished a three-point basket right before the halftime buzzer to increase Houston's deficit to 10 points (36-26) at the half.

"We had it cut to seven at half; but, we gave up the three to Mayberry at the very end of the half with six seconds to go," said Houston head coach Todd Buchanan. "And, end the half on that negative note."

Buchanan added, "I told them at the half 'Let's keep doing what we were doing and try to get into our offense quicker (in the second half)'."

Buchanan's players did not heed the advice in the second half.

The Golden Hurricane pounced on the Cougars with a 13-4 run in the first half minutes of the half and cruised to the victory.

"We started the second half much like we started the game. We never really recovered from it," Buchanan lamented.

Roxana Button, the leading scorer in Conference USA, finished the game with eight points for the Cougars. Button made only four of her 19 field goal attempts. Amanda Lawson led the Coogs with 15 points (6 for 9 from the field). Michelle White added 10 points.

Tiffani Couisnard, junior forward from Houston, TX, (The Kinkaid School) scored a game-high 20 points for the Golden Hurricane. Couisnard also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and blocked a team-high four shots.

The Cougars have lost three straight conference games since picking up a road victory over Southern Miss. Coach Buchanan is uncertain why his team hasn't maintained any momentum from the road win.

"You would think we would be jacked out of our mind (after the road victory) after the season that we've gone through; but, we just haven't."

Thursday night, the Cougars did not come to play for 40 minutes.

"The bottom line is we didn't come ready to play," Buchanan summarized. "That comes back on me; and, we've got to change it."

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