Hunter hunts down Houston women’s basketball’s first Big 12 win of Matthew Mitchell era

Off a contested pass from junior guard Kierra Merchant, redshirt senior guard Kyndall Hunter launched a right-corner triple as time expired, sealing the Cougars’ first Big 12 win in 383 days. 

The shot sailed through the hoop to cap off her season-high 23-point performance and gave Houston women’s basketball a 72-70 win over Cincinnati at Fertitta Center on Sunday, its first conference win since beating No. 24 Oklahoma State on Jan. 14, 2025.

“Originally, the play was for Kiki (Merchant) to drive it in, and it didn’t go as planned,” said Hunter, who was swarmed by her teammates after the game. “She saw me in the corner. I didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision, so I just shot it.”

After the match, an elated coach Matthew Mitchell grabbed a microphone and led a “Whose House? Coogs House!” chant, showcasing how much the win meant for the team.

“I wanted it so badly for them, because they’re really contributing to the foundation of this program,” Mitchell said. “It’s a special group right now, and they’ve shown a lot of character to hang on there.”

In a tightly contested battle, both teams went blow-for-blow all game and seemed to have each other’s number.

Both the Cougars and the Bearcats punished each other’s interior defense, with both teams having 38 and 42 points in the paint, respectively. 

In the rebounding and turnover battles, Cincinnati narrowly won each plus-2.

To the Cougars, the x-factor that allowed them to pull out the victory, was consistency.

“No matter what the refs were calling, no matter if they kept scoring, no matter if we turned the ball over, we just stayed together,” graduate forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim said. “We just kept telling ourselves we got a game to win, so stay together, keep going and play through it.”

In addition to Hunter’s performance, Merchant put up 15 points on 50% shooting, five rebounds, three steals and a block.

Across her past three games, freshman guard Kayla King was 0-for-10 on 3-point attempts. Today, she knocked down two of the Cougars’ five makes from deep.

Freshman guard Caliyah Devillasee was the standout player for the Bearcats, with 21 points, four boards, a block and a steal.

The Cougars are now 7-14 overall, ending their nine-game losing streak that started in December and lasted halfway through Big 12 play.

They’ll look to add to the win column on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. when they go to Fort Worth, Texas to take on the No. 12 TCU Horned Frogs at Schollmaier Arena.