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Dec. 4, 2004

Final Stats

EVANSTON, Ill.- – With eight seconds remaining in the game, Houston’s Joann Overstreet stole the ball and converted a free throw to seal the win as the No. 24 Lady Cougars defeated Virginia, 67-64 in Northwestern’s Mildred & Roger L. White Invitational on Saturday.

The Cavaliers got the ball back with one second to go, but couldn’t get a shot off in time.

With the win, Houston remains a perfect 8-0 and claims the Invitational championship. UVa, which stands 4-3 overall, will face Northwestern on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. CST (2 p.m. EST) for second place. The Wildcats fell to Houston on Friday, 78-56.

“They made plays at the end,” UVa head coach Debbie Ryan said of Houston. “They came up with big shots. We made a mistake on the last play. We’ll learn from it. We did everything we needed to do to win, but we just couldn’t finish.”

In the first half, Houston scored the first bucket, but Virginia tied and took over the lead for most of the stanza. The Cavaliers led by four on four occasions, but the Lady Cougars came back to take a two-point edge, 35-33, into the locker room.

In the second half, Houston opened up with a 7-1 run to go ahead by eight, 42-34, for the biggest lead of the game. UVa responded with a 9-0 run of its own to go ahead, 43-42 with 13:12 to go. The teams battled back and forth. With 40 seconds remaining, junior Tiffany Sardin (Chicago, Ill.) made a lay-up to tie the game at 64-64. UH’s Sancho Lyttle converted two free throws to go ahead by two, 66-64 with 13 seconds on the clock. Overstreet then made two dynamic plays to seal the win for Houston.

Playing in front of her hometown crowd, sparked with many family and friends, Sardin paced the Cavaliers with a career-high 18 points. Senior Jocelyn Logan-Friend (Cheverly, Md.) also chipped in a career-high 16 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for her second double-double of the season (third of her career). Senior LaTonya Blue (Baltimore, Md.) added 16 points and a team-high six assists.

“Tiffany played the game of her life,” Ryan said. “She and Jocelyn came in focused. Jocelyn also played tremendous defense.”

“I wanted to win and playing in front of my hometown crowd got me going,” Sardin said. “We continued to feed off of the energy from the bench. We’re still learning. Trust me, we’ll get there.”

Kiki Harris paced Houston with 18 points. Lyttle finished with 14 points, while Overstreet had 11 assists and eight points.

Overall, Virginia out-rebounded Houston, 43-23. The Cavaliers forced 14 turnovers while committing 25.

Virginia returns to Charlottesville on Friday, Dec. 10 to host intra-state rival Old Dominion at 7 p.m. at University Hall.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
at Mildred & Roger L. White Invitational

Results from Dec. 4, 2004:


1 2 – Final#24 Houston (8-0) 35 32 – 67Virginia (4-3) 33 31 – 64

Results from Dec. 3, 2004:
1 2 – Final#24 Houston (7-0) 37 41 – 78Northwestern (1-5) 24 32 – 56

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