Since the Bills game against Cincinnati last week was televised, women’s basketball coach Jill Pizzotti hoped the games would bring recognition for her program and for Conference USA.
The Billikens did their part, playing well in both games. But they fell just short in each.
The Billikens lost to Louisville 66-58 last Friday. Mandy Lueking opened the scoring just 10 seconds into the game. The teams went back and forth, before Louisville went on a 13-2 run to lead 21-10 with five minutes left in the half.
The Cardinals pushed the lead to 27-14 before SLU scored the final six points of the half. Louisville led 29-23 at halftime.
Both teams traded baskets as the second half began. The Bills cut the lead to six. Louisville pulled away, thanks to a 15-2 run. They lead 50-31 with 11 minutes left in the game.
The Bills played Louisville evenly for the next four minutes, but trailed 56-42. SLU finished the game on a 12-5 run, in which Bridget Beckmann scored eight points.
Beckmann led the Bills in scoring and rebounding with 21 points and 19 boards. Both were career highs. Lueking netted 14 points, and Christan Shelton added 12.
Pizzotti said, “We played well. Louisville is a good ball club. We played real well for a half. When they got up by 19 points, we battled back.”
“Their defense bothered us. There were stretches where we just didn’t score,” she added.
The Bills lost to Cincinnati, 61-56, on Sunday. The game was close, marked by five ties and 10 lead changes.
SLU roared out to a 9-6 lead less than four minutes into the game. Lueking paced the run with five points. Cincinnati came back and took an 18-13 lead with 11 minutes left in the first half.
SLU pulled even with the Bearcats at 22 four minutes later. Cincinnati outscored SLU in the final three minutes to lead 28-25 at halftime.
SLU scored nine straight points and lead 34-28 four minutes into the second half. Lueking scored five points during the run.
Cincinnati went on a 14-4 run over the next four minutes and lead 42-38. SLU pulled within two points, but the Bearcats scored nine unanswered points to lead 51-40 with seven minutes left in the game.
The Bills chipped away through the rest of the half and cut the lead to 56-53 with 44 seconds left. Cincinnati hit their free throws at the end and prevailed, 61-56.
“We’ve had good battles with them the last few years,” Pizzotti said.
“I was very impressed with our effort. We let the pressure bother us. There was not one second where I felt that we gave up.”
The Bills travel to nationally-ranked Tulane on Fri., Jan 28. Tulane is 16-2 overall and 5-2 in C-USA. The Green Wave is ranked 20th in the country and leads C-USA in scoring with 82.8 points a game.
Tulane has won the six previous meetings, including a 73-52 victory last season in St. Louis.
“They provide matchup problems and there’s a real challenges there,” Pizzotti said.
The Bills return home for a game against Southern Miss on Sun., Jan 30. The Golden Eagles are 9-9 overall and 3-4 in C-USA games. The teams have met five times, with SLU leading 3-2.
The home teams have won each meeting. The Bills won the only meeting last season as Lueking hit a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to defeat the Golden Eagles.
“I’m ready for a good squad. They are hard-working and use a pressure defense. I expect a close game,” Pizzotti stated.
