Nov. 24, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - -

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Freshman Ramses Lonlack stuck back an offensive rebound and converted three of four free-throws in the final 41 seconds and senior center Jessica Jackson conserved a Tiger victory with a defensive rebound of a missed Ohio free-throw with seven seconds remaining in a 72-69 Tiger thriller Monday night.

"I'm really proud of our kids," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "I thought the score was too high, but they had 32 points at halftime and our defense needs to hold a little bit more. We gave up two quick threes to right at the beginning of the second half and gave up the lead. It was a game of runs and Ohio University is a good basketball team. They're very fundamental, and they know exactly what shots they're getting and they shot 53 percent from the field."

Memphis got scoring from eight different players in the opening 20 minutes to build a 42-34 lead at the break. Both Lonlack and Paris Leonard had nine points in the opening half, as the Tigers shot 50 percent from the floor. But Ohio also shot 50 percent from the floor, and came out to start the second half on an 8-0 run to erase the Tiger lead and tie the game at 42-42 with 18:40 to play.

But the Tigers did not panic and answered Ohio's 8-0 run with a 9-0 run of their own, fueled by four points from Lonlack and five points from Leonard. In an up-and-down game, the Tigers kept building on the lead, until they led 60-47 with 9:43 to play, but a 16-2 Ohio run started when Chandra Myers laid up a shot with 9:43 to play. Tehani Goldsmith would answer with a layup at the 8:27 mark, but Memphis would be held scoreless for the next four minutes, as Ohio knocked down two more threes to go with two more layups from Lauren Hmiel to push the Bobcats in front 63-62 with 4:56 to play.

Memphis called a timeout and had trouble getting a good look at the basket, fumbling the ball around the perimeter with the shot clock winding down. Paris Leonard corralled the ball, took one dribble, and drained a three as the shot clock expired, pushing Memphis back in front at 65-63 with 4:23 to play. Ashley Thornton then took a ball off a Jessica Jackson defensive rebound of a missed Bobcat three and laid it up at the other end to push Memphis ahead by four. But the win was still not secure, as Hmiel added another layup and teammate Jennifer Bushby was fouled on a defensive rebound after the Tigers missed three layups in one trip. Busby hit both free-throws to knot the game at 67-67 and following a timeout, Memphis ran a play that resulted in an offensive foul and one of 16 Tiger turnovers. But Paris Leonard stole a ball and got off a jumper, which was rebounded and stuck back by Lonlack to put Memphis back ahead 69-67 with 1:23 to play.

But Chandra Myers got behind the Tiger defense for a layup to tie the game for the fourth, and final, time at 69-69 with 1:07 to play. But Ohio picked up a foul on the Tiger driver, sending Lonlack to the line, where she knocked down the first of two free-throws to put Memphis ahead 70-69 with 41 seconds to play. Luckily, the rebound on the second missed free-throw went out of bounds off a Bobcat defender, allowing Memphis another possession. Winchell launched a three, and Memphis was whistled on the defensive rebound, sending Hmiel to the free-throw line for the front end of a one-and-one. Hmiel's shot rimmed out and into the hands of Jackson, who outlet the ball to Lonlack. Lonlack was quickly fouled and went to the free-throw line and hit her first free-throw for 71-69, Memphis. Following a 60-second Ohio timeout, Lonlack connected on the second free-throw to seal the Tiger's third straight home victory in as many tries.

"Our goal was to keep them at 38 field goal percentage and we didn't exactly do that," McFerrin said. "Our goal was to force 30 turnovers and we didn't do that either, but 24 still gives us an opportunity to score easy stuff. The rebounding total was huge because we asked our kids to out-rebound them by six and that's exactly what they did. That's a 20-point lead on turnovers based on what they are averaging. We did it on the boards, but we had some kids make huge plays. Jessica Jackson got a charge and she got a rebound on that last free throw. Ramses made three or four free throws late and Paris had some great plays. She got a charge and some tough buckets with the shot clock winding down. Those are very key stats and those are the first things that we look at."

Leonard led all players with her second straight 24-point outing, while Lonlack finished with a career-high 18 points, adding four rebounds, three assists and four steals. Ashley Thornton chipped in 12 points and five rebounds to help Memphis to 3-2 on the season.

Jenny Poff led Ohio with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, while Lauren Hmiel added 19 points. Chandra Myers finished with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss.

Memphis will remain at home and will host the 24th Annual Piggly Wiggly Classic, Friday and Saturday following the Thanksgiving break. The Tigers will face Wichita State in the first round of the tournament at 6 p.m., Friday, while Stephen F. Austin will face Jacksonville State University in the second game, at approximately 8 p.m., or 30 minutes following the completion of game one.

The consolation game of the tournament will be played Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m., with the championship game tipping 30 minutes following the completion of the consolation game.