Herd Stumbles in Second Half in Loss to Houston

The Thundering Herd dropped to 6-11 (0-4 C-USA) with the loss, while Houston improved to 8-8 (2-1 C-USA).

Forward Suporia Dickens entered Marshall’s record books after finishing with 17 rebounds. She totaled five on the offensive board and 12 on defense. The career-high for Dickens ranks No. 18 all-time in rebounds in a game for Marshall’s history.

Erica Woods and Norrisha Victrum led the Herd offense with 14 points each. Woods went 5-of-6 from the free throw line, while Victrum was 6-of-14 from the field. Woods added six rebounds and five assists.

As the third-best scorer in the league, averaging 17.3 points per game, Houston’s Porsche Landry led the Cougars with 24 points, going 7-for-12 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

Three different Cougar players tallied double-digit rebound totals including Te’onna Campbell (12), Marissa Ashton (11) and Yasmeen Thompson (10). Campbell and Ashton each recorded a double-double after adding 14 and 17 points, respectively.

A majority of Houston’s points came from the free throw line. After totaling 25 fouls in the game, Marshall sent the Cougars to the line 38 times. Houston went 23-of-38 in free throws for the game.

“It was a weird game,” commented Daniel. “In free throws – we shot 15 and they shot 38. That is a lot of free throws. We played a lot of zone, because we got in foul trouble early. They scored 23 points from the free throw line. They made more free throws than they did field goals.”

Marshall jumped to a 7-4 lead with 15 minutes left in the first half after Williams nailed a three-pointer from the corner. She led Marshall with three made three-pointers and totaled 11 points for the game. Despite the lead, Marshall was troubled on the boards by Houston’s Thompson. As the conference leader in rebounds, the junior center had six rebounds in the first five minutes of play.

Houston’s Marissha Ashton helped the Cougars trim the lead to 10-9 with 12:30 left, scoring five points in a row in a span of a minute. The Herd responded with a nine-point run that was topped off by Weaver to make the score 19-9 with under nine minutes left in the opening period. Weaver leads the conference in made three-pointers per game with 2.7 per contest.

Erica Woods helped Marshall maintain a 23-19 lead with three minutes left in the half. The senior totaled nine points in the first 17 minutes of play. However, Landry hit two three-pointers in a row in the final two-and-a-half minutes to trim Marshall’s lead to 33-30 at halftime. Landry and Ashton each totaled 10 points for Houston at the half.

After the first 20 minutes of play, Woods led the Herd with 11 points, while Dickens had nine rebounds.

Williams netted two three-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half and Marshall extended its lead to 41-36.

A layup from Ashton helped Houston tally five unanswered points and tie the game at 41-41 with 12 minutes left in the game. The two teams battled for control of the lead for the next four minutes and Houston took its first lead since the opening basket with eight minutes left at 47-46.

A steal turned into a fast break layup by Dickens helped Marshall take back the lead with 6:30 left in the game and the Herd controlled a 52-49 advantage. The lead changed twice in the ensuing four minutes, but the Cougars controlled the game with a 60-58 advantage with 2:30 left in the game.

The final two minutes showcased Houston outscoring Marshall 11-5. The Cougars went 6-of-9 from the free throw line during the span to finish the game with a 71-63 win.

Marshall returns to the Cam Henderson Center for a game against UAB on Sunday. Tip off begins at 2 p.m. ET