After grabbing their first conference win over St. Louis, the Bearcats (10-8, 1-3) look ahead to No. 22 Houston on Friday and No. 21 TCU on Sunday.

"On Sunday, it was a mental thing. I saw a team that wanted to win, that pulled together to win," UC coach Laurie Pirtle said. "Every game now is an opportunity to turn a corner to feel better about what we're doing."

This weekend will be another battle. Houston (14-2, 3-0) is riding a nine-game winning streak, its last loss coming to Purdue on Dec. 7. TCU (13-3, 2-1) has just one conference loss to Houston.

"We look at (these games) as proving ourselves, but more just getting back on track," UC junior Debbie Merrill said.

The Bearcats' biggest obstacle could be Houston's Chandi Jones, who earned Conference USA Player of the Week honors after scoring 32 points and the game-winning jumper in Sunday's win over TCU. Jones, last season's national scoring champ, scored 30 points in a loss to the Bearcats last season.

"You don't stop her. You just try to get her to miss some shots," Pirtle said. "(Houston is) having a banner year. Their team chemistry must be really good."

UC senior forward Brittani Young probably will be the main force trying to get in Jones' way.

XAVIER: XU (10-7, 2-4) also snapped a two-game losing streak with an 81-69 win over Fordham on Sunday. The Musketeers face a potentially helpful stretch of Atlantic 10 games this week on the road. Their three opponents have a combined four conference wins.

"I'm hopeful we broke the ice with that win Sunday and we can continue to improve and get back going in the direction we were headed earlier in the year," Xavier coach Kevin McGuff said. "We defended better Sunday than we have in awhile, and we played with a little more confidence on offense."

The Musketeers, who are led in scoring by sophomore forward Tara Boothe, have seen a recent boost in their offense from freshman guard Suntana Granderson.

Granderson was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week on Jan. 11 after scoring 24 and 22 points in consecutive games. She scored 23 points Sunday.

MIAMI: The RedHawks (8-6, 2-1) return to Millet Hall tonight for the first time since Dec. 30 to face Northern Illinois. This will be their first conference home test after opening the MAC season with a 2-1 record on the road.

This week's games

Xavier: at Massachusetts, 7 p.m. Friday; at Rhode Island, 2 p.m. Sunday.

UC: at Houston, 8 p.m. Friday; at TCU, 3 p.m. Sunday.

Miami: vs. Northern Illinois, 7 p.m. today; at Eastern Michigan, 7 p.m. Saturday.

Ohio State: vs. Purdue, 7 p.m. Thursday; vs. Penn State, 2 p.m. Sunday.

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This women's basketball notebook appears Wednesdays.