‘We just drenched him.’ Houston women’s basketball opens coach Matthew Mitchell era with win over UT Arlington

“I don’t have to take a shower tonight,” coach Matthew Mitchell said, after he was drenched in a postgame celebration of Houston women’s basketball’s first win of a new era, a 76-59 opening night win over UT Arlington at Fertitta Center on Tuesday. 

“The players have worked really hard and put in a lot of effort to get to tonight,” Mitchell said. “We’re certainly not a finished product by any means and we have a lot to work on, but you have to honor the effort tonight.”

Five newcomers scored in double figures including graduate forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim, who led the Cougars’ opening night efforts with 16 points, and freshman forward Jade Jones, who led the rebound column with nine in nearly posting a double-double in her first career collegiate start. 

Jones and guard Kayla King combined for 24 points in Houston’s freshman minutes including King’s third quarter triple. Abdur-Rahim complemented their performances and chemistry on the floor between the classification distance. 

“Jade is such a fast player,” Abdur-Rahim said. “She plays aggressive, she plays strong, she hustles, and it shows out there. KK (King), she’s a great shooter, she’s a great defender.”

These were pivotal efforts in the Cougars closing out the night on a 31-18 run that began at the 2:55 mark of the third quarter, in which they started the second half 2-for-8 from the floor. 

“We got into a really difficult situation in the third quarter,” Mitchell said. “I was really proud of how we responded to finish that quarter and get back in control of the game.”

Down 13-8 at the 3:06 mark of the opening quarter, the Cougars took an 11-0 run into the second quarter by taking advantage of early Maverick turnovers. 

The scoring action ran mostly dry to start the second quarter however, as Houston began it on a 3-for-13 funk from the floor for the first 7:31. 

Much like the succeeding responses, the Cougars would close out the quarter on an 11-1 run featuring a five-point burst from Jones.

In all, Houston finished the night winning the turnover battle by a +12 margin in scoring 31 points off forced turnovers. The Cougars also shut out the Mavericks exclusively in fast break sequences in scoring 19 on the mark. 

Graduate guard Briana Peguero, who finished with 14 points on her night, pointed to the win as just one step toward accomplishing much larger goals and surprising people in March. 

“Since we’re our new group and he’s (Mitchell) a new coach coming in, I think we all just want to go to the big goal,” she said. “We want to go to the tournament. This first win for us is kind of like we’re fixing to put Houston on the map.”

Up next, the Cougars will continue their three-game opening homestand as they’re back in action against the UTSA Roadrunners on Saturday, Nov. 8 for a 7 p.m. CST tip-off.