HOUSTON — Senior Amber Gregg broke the UTSA’s career 3-pointers record with four on Tuesday night at Houston, but it wasn’t enough, as the Cougars handed the Roadrunners a 71-59 setback at Hofheinz Pavilion.
Gregg led UTSA (3-5) with 18 points and the Austin native now has 170 career 3-pointers, which is two more than Terrie Davis' 168 recorded from 2004-08. Meanwhile, sophomore Jermini Malone recorded a career-high nine rebounds to go along with nine points and a half dozen assists.
Courtney Taylor paced Houston (6-1) with a game-high 24 points and 14 rebounds.
The opening minutes saw six lead changes before Taylor’s fast-break layup gave the Cougars an 11-8 lead, which led to a Roadrunners' timeout. UTSA came out of the stoppage on fire and Gregg’s 10-foot jumper ignited a 12-2 run.
Houston answered with an 11-1 stretch to take a three-point lead (24-21) before Gregg tied the score with her third triple of the game to take the top spot on the program's all-time ledger. The Cougars built a nine-point advantage before junior Ashleigh Franklin connected on her first 3-pointer of the season to pull the Birds within six at halftime (36-30).
Despite being outscored 24-4 in the paint, UTSA managed to stay in the game by going 7-for-16 (46.7-percent) from behind the arc and it scored five points off 10 Houston turnovers.
The Roadrunners scored seven of the first nine points of the second half to cut the deficit to one, 38-37, before the Cougars extended their lead with six consecutive points.
Houston turned up the defensive pressure and Taylor’s layup gave the Cougars their largest lead to that point, 55-43, with 8:57 to play.
Four consecutive free throws from Cori senior Cooper cut the deficit to eight, but each time the Roadrunners made a move, the Cougars responded with a defensive stop or score.
A Porsche Landry layup gave Houston its largest of the game, 13, with 2:35 left and UTSA could get no closer than eight the rest of the way.
The Roadrunners will wrap up their three-game road stretch at LSU (5-4) in an 11:30 a.m. contest on Thursday, Dec. 16.
