January 7, 2000

Box Score

HOUSTON - The Saint Louis University women's basketball team lost their second-straight heartbreaker tonight with a 53-52 defeat at Houston. UH's Cathy Lida scored 14 of her career-high 21 points in the second half as the Cougars outscored the Bills 27-18 in the second stanza.

Momentum swung back and forth throughout the half as each team opened leads as wide as six points. SLU used an 8-0 run to close the half and take a 34-26 lead into the break. The Cougars were cold from the field, shooting just 29.7 percent, but Billiken turnovers kept them in the game.

The Cougars came out quickly in the second half as Lida scored the first six points of the half. The Billikens struggled to hit shots, not scoring in the half's first four minutes. Lida tied the score at 44 at 8:35 and neither team could break away from the other.

Tied at 51, the Cougars forced SLU into a shot clock violation with under a minute remaining. UH's Monet Sykes hit a jumper in the lane and was fouled on the shot with four seconds left. The Billikens had a chance to tie when Mandy Lueking was fouled with under a second remaining. The senior guard managed just one of the two shots and the Cougars scored their first Conference USA victory of the season.

Lueking and Christan Shelton led the Billikens with 12 points each while April McKinney pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

The Billikens return to action Sunday, Jan. 9 at South Florida. Game time is 1 p.m. Central Time.