Per GoBearcats:
The University of Cincinnati women's basketball team held on for the 73-65 victory over Houston on Wednesday night inside Fifth Third Arena.
Cincinnati (13-6, 5-4) has matched its Big 12 win total from a season ago with nine games remaining. J
illian Hayes delivered a standout performance with 21 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, including eight offensive boards. The performance marked her ninth double-double of the season and 32nd of her career, while also being her eighth 20-point game of the year and fourth in Big 12 play.
Tineya Hylton contributed 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting while matching her career high with seven rebounds. This marks the third time this season that she and Jillian Hayes have both scored 20 or more points in the same game.
Delaney Snyder made her first career start, notching five points and five boards, while Abby Holtman matched her career-high in points (9) on 3-of-3 shooting.
Cincinnati outrebounded Houston 43-29 with 17 offensive boards, which resulted in 14 second chance points, and made 21 of its 25 attempts from the line (.840).
Cincinnati jumped out to a 6-2 advantage after back-to-back buckets from Hayes and Hylton. Hylton scored nine of UC's 13 points at the media timeout (13-9).
The Bearcats' defense held the Cougars without a field goal for the final five minutes to lead by eight (19-11). The Bearcats used a 7-0 run to take a 13-point lead with under four minutes remaining (35-22). Holtman came up with seven points during the final five minutes to help UC lead at the break, 45-32.
Houston opened the third quarter on a 11-2 run to pull within four with 6:44 on the clock (47-43). The Bearcats responded with six straight to push their lead back to 10 (53-43). Cincinnati continued to hold a double-digit advantage heading into the final quarter (61-51).
A Chloe Mann jumper capped a 4-0 spurt to start the fourth quarter (65-54). Houston then went on a run to make it a four-point game with under two minutes remaining (69-65). Snyder pulled down a critical offensive board and went 1-of-2 from the line with 40 seconds to go (70-65). Mann and Hylton sealed the game from the stripe for the eventual 73-65 final score.
