Nov. 15, 2009

Box Score

MEMPHIS - -

Complete Box Score in PDF Format

By Joshua Wilkins
Graduate Assistant

For the third time ever, and only the second at Elma Roane Fieldhouse, Memphis (0-2) lost to Murray State (2-0) in women's basketball, 69-59, Sunday. Murray State was a WNIT team from last season, the second the Tigers were facing in a three-day stretch.

"We were very poor early in the game," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "We were kind of sitting back, trying to assess how good Murray State was while we were deciding how much effort we could put in to it, and we cannot be that kind of team and it got us in trouble. We got lackadaisical, and we couldn't hit a shot today, but the fact of the matter was, if we defended early in the game and not gotten so far down, then we had every opportunity to win this game. I was disappointed in our commitment to being a winning team today. We accept full responsibility, we didn't play hard enough to be a team that had a chance to win today."

Seven first-half threes created a deficit Memphis couldn't trim all the way down as Murray State connected on 7-of-11 first half tries from beyond the arc, with five different Racers scoring from beyond the arc. The result was a second straight game where the Tigers had spotted their opposition with a 14-point lead at some point in the first half after Mariah Robinson knocked down one of her two first half threes, pushing Murray in front 32-18.

"They told me (after the Indiana game) that they understood that we cannot get off to slow starts," McFerrin said. "We didn't show that sense of urgency. I hate to say this is a normal development, but it is, in teams where you are trying to get them to take enough pride in the way they play and trying to become a winning team, but that was not what we had hoped for our team today."

Memphis responded with a 6-0 run of its own with baskets when freshman guard Chatia Kelsey stole a ball and drove it the length of the court for a layup. Savannah Ellis and Ramses Lonlack added layups of their own to cut the lead to 32-24 and following a Murray State jumper to push the lead back to double-digits, Melrose High alum Starkitsha Luellen-Higgins hit a turnaround deuce at the first-half buzzer leaving the Tigers down eight (34-26) at halftime.

In the second half, Memphis held Murray State to just one 3-pointer, but a rebounding deficit of 27-21 and just 1-for-18 three-point shooting in the second half kept the Tigers from coming all the way back.

Memphis cut the Racer lead to 41-32 after a Bullard jumper, but then a 9-0 run by Murray State gave the Racers their biggest lead, 50-32, with just more than 11:42 remaining.

The Tigers made up some ground with a 12-1 run. Bullard hit a jumper and the Tigers benefited from free throws by Carter and Dickson before Mumphrey scored a deuce. Then Kelsey recorded back-to-back transition buckets to pull Memphis within 51-44 with 8:07 to play.

Twenty-five seconds later Carter sank a free throw to cut the margin to 51-45, but Kayla Vance would knock down Murray State's eighth trey of the game to push the lead back to nine.

Bullard and Holder would trade baskets for their respective teams before Carter hit two free throws at 6:03 to pull Memphis back to within 56-49, but Memphis would get no closer, falling victim to clutch Racer free throw shooting and a Tiger inability to cash in from the three-point line. Memphis was 11-for-24 from the free-throw line for the game, including a 10-for-22 stroke in the second half. The final score was 69-59.

The Tigers fall to 0-2 on the season, while Murray State finishes its season-opening road trip with a 2-0 mark. Carter (13) and Bullard (10) scored in double-digits for the Tigers. Carter added 11 rebounds for her first career double-double, and Bullard and Carter both had three assists to tie for the team lead.

The Tigers will return to the court Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m., when they head to McFerrin's alma mater, Missouri, for an out-of-conference contest. The game will be broadcast via radio on FM 91.7 WUMR.