Bearcats WBB Falls to Wichita State, 60-52

It was a good news, bad news kind of night at Fifth Third Arena for the Cincinnati Bearcats women’s basketball team.

The good news was that the Bearcats got three players into double figures. Freshman guard Jillian Hayes led the way for Cincinnati with 17 points while stalwart senior forward IImar’i Thomas posted 13 and senior Arame Niang netted her own 13.

The bad news was that many of these points came when Cincinnati was already out of contention in its contest with Wichita State, who won by a 60-52 on the road and earned their first conference win (4-6 overall, 1-4 AAC).

Wichita came out of the locker room in both the first and third quarters and laid the smackdown on Cincinnati, asserting control of the game in the opening frame and putting the Bearcats away in the third.

The bad news is that Cincinnati shot so atrociously (.316 for the game and less than .250 during the first half) that even 17 Wichita State turnovers couldn’t keep the Bearcats in the game for long.

Worst of all, Cincinnati’s situation in the AAC gets more desperate by the game, as the team fell to 2-7 in the league and 3-10 overall.

Sadly, the Bearcats are in rebuild mode during the senior year of the best player in the history of the program, IImar’i Thomas. Let’s hope this group matures down the stretch and sends her out in style.

The Bearcats return to action next Wednesday February 3rd when they play host to the Temple Owls. Check back with Down the Drive for full coverage of the contest.