Marquette 64, USF 55

TAMPA, Fla. -- Marquette forward Heidi Bowman and South Florida guard Aiya Shepard battled to 28 points each, but it was the Marquette team that ended the better, 64-55. Marquette ended a five game losing streak and improved to 10-15 and 6-9 in Conference USA play. South Florida drops to 4-21 and 1-13 in C-USA.

Bowman hit 11-of-15 for the game and made 4-of-5 from behind the three point arc. Center Sarah Zawodny came off the bench for nine points and nine rebounds.

"I didn't realize I had 28 points," Bowman said. "The victory was more important. We have to be confident going into the conference tournament."

Marquette led by as many 11 in the first half, 30-19, before South Florida came back to cut the MU lead to 32-25 at the half, basically on the driving ability of Shepard. She drove the lane on three-consecutive possessions to slice into the Marquette led. She led all USF scorers with 13 at the half.

Marquette started freshman guard Katie O'Grady for the first time this season, fresh off her 11 point outing against Houston and forward Rachel Klug received her fourth start of the year.

"We needed to get off to a good start and that's why I made the changes in the starting lineup," head coach Terri Mitchell said. "We need everybody to step up if we're going to do anything in the conference tournament."

The Golden Eagles jumped to its halftime advantage in large part due to its outside shooting. MU hit six three pointers -- four by Bowman and two by Kelly Schwerman -- in the first half.

Bowman led all scorers with 14 at the break.

Marquette returns home to conclude the season beginning on Friday, Feb. 23 with a 7 p.m. tip off against Saint Louis at the Milwaukee Auditorium. Charlotte meets MU to close the season on Feb. 25 at noon at the Bradley Center.

Cincinnati 70, Saint Louis 67

SAINT LOUIS -- Junior center Tammy Douglass matched a career-high 25 points as Cincinnati downed Saint Louis, 70-67, for its fifth straight win of the season. The game wrapped up UC's regular season road campaign.

UC improves to 19-7 overall and 9-6 in Conference USA play, while Saint Louis, which has lost four straight, falls to 14-11 overall and 5-9 in C-USA.

Douglass went 11-for-14 from the field and added two assists, a steal and block for UC. Freshman Valerie King added 19 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Junior Laura Wilder had career highs of eight assists and three steals while chipping in six points.

The Bearcats trailed by eight at the half, 39-31, before using a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 14:59 in the second half off of a pair of free throws by King. SLU's Greta Bujaker nailed a 3-pointer at 13:30 to give Saint Louis back the lead, but she fouled King on the next possession to hand to lead back over to UC following another set of free throws by King. UC led the rest of the way and by as many as seven with just over two minutes left in the game. The Bearcats shot 58 percent in the second half, while holding Saint Louis to only 32 percent shooting.

The game started off close as the teams traded baskets early in the first half before the Billikens went on a 6-0 run to take an 26-20 lead at the 8:30 mark. SLU's April McKinney and Christan Shelton combined to score 16 points as the Billikens capitalized on their 59 percent shooting effort to lead by as many as 12 points, 32-20, with 6:14 on the clock. Douglass, who had 15 points in the first half on 7-for-8 shooting from the field, helped the Bearcats pull to within six at 2:48, but SLU responded with a basket to claim the halftime lead.

Shelton and Star Jackson led Saint Louis with 14 points apiece while McKinney chipped in 12. Kirsti Holloway had a team-high eight rebounds.

Cincinnati closes out the regular season this Saturday against Louisville at 3 p.m. in the Shoemaker Center.

Charlotte 58, Louisville 52

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte 49ers women's basketball team knocked down five free throws in the final 30 seconds to upend Conference USA regular season champion Louisville, 58-52, Sunday afternoon at Halton Arena. The victory gave 49ers seniors Sarah Fisher, Brandi Hicks and Tonya Phifer a win in their final home game and snapped the Cardinals' 11-game win streak.

Phifer scored 12 points, all in the second half, to lead Charlotte (10-15, 5-9 C-USA) to the win. Tonika Smith also topped double figures for the Niners, scoring 11. Louisville (18-8, 13-2 C-USA) was led in scoring by Kara Kessans with 11 points.

The 49ers clung to a 27-25 lead at halftime as neither team led by more than four points in the first period. The Cardinals opened the second frame with a 9-0 run to pull in front, 34-27, on a Marju Sober field goal with 17:10 to play. Charlotte worked their way back to tie the game, 38-38, by the 9:47 mark on a Smith basket and took the lead for good seconds later on an Alicia Abernathy field goal. Louisville cut the lead to one with two free throws from Kessans with 1:28 remaining, but the Niners hit five of six free throw attempts in the final minutes to earn the win.

Charlotte closes the regular season next weekend, when they play at DePaul Friday night and Marquette Sunday afternoon. They make the trip back to Milwaukee the next week for the Conference USA Tournament, March 2-5.

Houston 70-58, DePaul 58

HOUSTON - It was a big day at Hofheinz Pavilion in Sunday (Feb. 18) afternoon. Not only were the six University of Houston Lady Cougar seniors being honored prior to the team's final home game of the year, Houston was just a half-game behind National division leader Tulane and knew that a victory over visiting DePaul could possibly place them alone in first place.

The game was slow scoring from tip-off as both Houston and DePaul combined for 16 fouls in the first ten minutes of the game. Despite double figures in points from seniors Monet Sykes (11) and Jessica Shanklin (10) in the first half, the Lady Cougars shot just 30 percent from the field and the couldn't contain DePaul's Lenae Williams, who lead the Blue Demons to a 37-28 half-time lead with 16 points, 12 of which came on four three-pointers.

Houston turned it up a notch and took control in the second half, shooting 45 percent from the field and outscoring DePaul in the final twenty minutes, 42-21. Sykes gave the Lady Cougars a 49-48 lead on a two-point jumper with 11:17 remaining and the Houston defense shut down the Blue Demon's offense and held DePaul to only ten points from that point on.

Sykes' career game was the story for the Lady Cougars. She turned in her sixth double-double performance of the year as she nailed nine of her 13 attempted field goals, and five of eight free throw attempts, to come within two points of her career high and finish the afternoon with 23 points. In addition, she pulled down a career-high and Lady Cougar season-high 14 rebounds, including 10 defensively.

Joining Sykes in double figures were Shanklin (18) and fellow seniors ShaRonda Lasseter (13) and Cathy Lida (10). Shanklin, Houston's leading threat outside the arc, made two three-pointers for the ninth straight game and added a team-high six assists.

The win was the first for the Lady Cougars in five meetings against the Blue Demons since the two schools began competing at the start of Conference USA during the 1996-97 season.

With the win the Lady Cougars improve to 17-9 overall on the year and 10-4 in C-USA play. Their 10 wins against C-USA opponents are the most in school history and their 10-2 record at Hofheinz Pavilion this season marks the most home victories since going 13-1 during the 1991-92 campaign.

Houston travels to Edinburg, Texas, to take on UT-Pan American on Tuesday (Feb. 20) night at 7:00pm. They close out the season next weekend with the final two games at Memphis on Friday, February 23 at 7:00pm and at UAB on Sunday, February 25, at 2:00pm.

Memphis 73, Southern Miss 58

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Miss Lady Eagle basketball lost four the fourth straight time, losing to Memphis, 73-58, on Sunday, in Reed Green Coliseum. The loss dropped the Lady Eagles to 12-14 overall and 5-10 in league play, while Memphis improved to 14-11 and 7-7.

This was the first time in the last four games that Memphis defeated Southern Miss. Earlier in the year, Southern Miss defeated Memphis, 65-62, in overtime at Memphis. The last time that Memphis defeated Southern Miss in Hattiesburg was on a last second shot by former Lady Tiger Tamika Whitmore during the 1998-99 season.

Victoria Mason led Southern Miss with 15 points, Krystal Courtney and Angela Johnson scored 11 points, each, and Jessica Woods chipped 10 points. Seniors Tiffany Adkins and Patrice Boyd led Memphis with 20 points, each, Tiffany Collins scored 13 points and Shannon Hamp added 10 points. Adkins also pulled down 12 rebounds.

"I think we were victims of a very hot shooting team today" Head Coach Rick Reeves. "Memphis came in as one of the weaker three-point shooting teams in the league, and today they were 6-of-10. We shot the ball better than what we did on Friday, but we were not able to overcome all the second chance points that Memphis got."

Memphis took a 43-33 lead into halftime, after shooting 54.8 percent (17-of-31) from the field. Memphis never trailed in the game. The Lady Tigers led by nine-points, 23-14, at the 11:23 mark in the first half. Southern Miss, then went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one, 23-22, with 8:23 remaining. Memphis answered with five unanswered points. Memphis out scored Southern Miss, 15-8, the rest of the half, and headed into the half with a 10-point lead. Southern Miss was able to cut the lead to six in the second half, 51-45, with just under 10 minutes remaining. Memphis then scored six unanswered points over 1:12. Southern Miss did not threaten again.

Memphis scored 36 points in the paint and had 19 points off 17 Southern Miss turnovers. Memphis also out rebounded Southern Miss, 37-29.

"Memphis is coming along at the right time," Reeves said. "They beat Tulane by almost the same score. Memphis did not have very many empty possessions, they either scored or got the rebound and scored. That really limited our fast break opportunities, which were keys in our victory at Memphis."

Southern Miss closes out the regular season at Tulane on Thursday, Feb. 22.