Houston
11/4/2026 12:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Game 2 • at Houston
Houston • Fertitta Center (7,035)
Sam Houston (1-0, 0-0 CUSA) at Houston (1-0, 0-0 Big 12)
Thursday, November 5 • 7:00 PM CT
TV: ESPN+ (Matt Thomas, Chancellor Johnson, Sabrina Borg)
HOW TO FOLLOW: Live Stats • @Bearkats_WBB on X
GAME NOTES: Sam Houston • Houston
Series vs the Cougars: Houston leads 17-2
HUNTSVILLE – Sam Houston plays its first road game of the season on Thursday night when it travels to face Houston at the Fertitta Center.
Tipoff for Thursday's game is set for 7:00 p.m. CT and will stream on ESPN+. Matt Thomas and Chancellor Johnson will have the call from the Fertitta Center, with Sabrina Borg reporting from the sideline.
KATS HEAD TO HOUSTON
- Sam Houston opened the season Monday with a 111-59 win over McMurry at Johnson Coliseum, forcing 37 turnovers and converting them into 51 points
- The Kats placed six players in double figures in the opener — Taylor Spencer (17), Fanta Kone (16), Hannah Wallace (16), Mar'Cyah Willis (12) and Ruke Ogbevire (12) — with all five starters scoring at least eight points
- Sam Houston's pressure defense picked up where it left off last season. The Kats led CUSA in steals and turnovers forced in each of the previous two seasons, averaging 13.5 steals and 25.0 forced turnovers per game in 2025-26
- Head coach Ravon Justice returns to Houston, where she was an assistant from 2010-16. Current Bearkat assistant Brittany Mason played on the Cougars' 2010-11 team that finished 26-6, went 16-0 in CUSA play and reached the NCAA Tournament, and later served on Houston's staff from 2011-14. Graduate assistant Kamryn Jones played for the Cougars from 2020-24 and was a two-time team captain
SAM HOUSTON vs THE COUGARS
- Thursday marks just the fifth meeting between the programs in the last 35 years and the first since Nov. 14, 2023. Houston leads the all-time series 17-2, including an 11-0 mark on its home floor
- Sam Houston is seeking its first win in the series since a 71-64 victory in Huntsville on Dec. 9, 1992, and its first-ever victory at Houston. Both of the Kats' wins in the series have come in Huntsville
- The Cougars are 1-0 under second-year head coach Matthew Mitchell, who has won 341 games in his career
THE LAST TIME
- Houston claimed a 106-65 victory in the teams' last meeting on Nov. 14, 2023, at the Fertitta Center. The Cougars outscored the Kats 60-16 in the opening half to cruise to the win
- Sam Houston shot just 27 percent from the field and committed 39 turnovers, helping Houston lead by as many as 58 points in the third quarter
PREGAME NOTES
- Fanta Kone surpassed 200 career steals in Monday's opener and now ranks sixth in program history with 202. She also sits at 293 career assists, seven shy of 300
- Ravon Justice enters Thursday third in program history with 117 victories at Sam Houston. She needs two wins to tie Brenda Nichols (119) for second place and is 16 victories away from matching Rebecca Bilsing's school record of 133
- Sam Houston is one of just three Division I programs that returned a pair of NCAA statistical qualifiers who each averaged at least 2.5 steals per game in 2025-26, joining UConn and Vanderbilt. Kone averaged 3.6 steals per game last season, while Deborah Ogayemi averaged 2.6
- Deborah Ogayemi returns after earning preseason all-CUSA honors for the second consecutive year. A two-time second-team all-CUSA selection, she averaged 11.9 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds last season
