Houston women’s basketball ends Grand Canyon State tour with a loss to Arizona

In its final road test of the season, Houston women’s basketball lost to the Arizona Wildcats 75-67 at the Desert Financial Arena in Tucson Ariz. Tuesday.

The Cougars showed effort by grabbing 12 offensive rebounds compared to Arizona’s four and forcing 18 turnovers, while also shooting 88% from the free-throw line.  

Houston had plenty of offensive production with redshirt senior guard Kyndall Hunter leading the team with 21 points. Senior guard TK Pitts chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds as she secured 500 career boards. Graduate forward Amirah Abdur-Rahim led the team in the category with nine rebounds and 10 points.  

For Arizona, junior guard Sumayah Sugapong and graduate guard Noelani Cornfield were the difference makers, combining for 38 points. Sugapong had a game-high six steals as the Wildcats claimed their third conference win.

After being down 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, Houston began to show signs of life, outscoring the Wildcats 19-6 in the second quarter and taking a 26-19 lead into halftime.  

“I was proud of our group for overcoming a slow start and getting some momentum going into halftime,” coach Matthew Mitchell said. “But the Wildcats were too tough for us.”

They outscored the Cougars 56-41 after the break.

Despite being similar statistically in a lot of categories, Arizona was able to pull out the win by shooting 43% from the field compared to Houston’s 37%. The Wildcats also had 18 fast-break points compared to the Cougars’ five.  

With the loss, the Cougars fell to 7-21 overall and 1-16 in Big 12 play, for last place in the conference.

Houston will look to end the season on a high note when it rounds out the regular season on Senior Day against the UCF Knights at the Fertitta Center on March 1 at 2 p.m.