Jan. 7, 2006
Lady Tiger Freshmen Lead Team in C-USA-Opening Loss
Despite double-digit scoring efforts from the two Lady Tiger freshmen, including a career-high 11 points from Sherika Montgomery, her first career double-digit outing, Memphis fell to visiting Marshall, 65-52, Friday night. Junior Devin Necaise was the only other Lady Tiger in double-digits with 10. Paris Leonard would add a career-high four steals to go with her 13 points in the loss.
Against East Carolina
Memphis leads the overall series with East Carolina, 3-2, with each team carrying a 2-0 mark on their respective home courts. The one neutral site game was a Memphis victory in the C-USA Tournament last season. Memphis squares off against East Carolina at 2 p.m.
Summer Campers Welcome Back for the ECU Game
Sunday will be a free admission game for kids who participated in a Blair Savage Basketball camp this past summer.
Butler Nine Points From 700
Memphis has had a player go over the 1,000 career point mark in each of the past three seasons. That streak may be in jeopardy depending on the scoring success of Tamika Butler for the remainder of the season. Just nine points shy of her 700th career point, Butler would need to average over 19.3 points per game over the next 16 games to be the fourth Lady Tiger to reach that mark. Prior to Shannon Hamp passing the 1,000 mark in 2003, Memphis had not had a 1,000 point career scorer since Tamika Whitmore passed it as a sophomore in 1997.
Teammate Devin Necaise may be the next Lady Tiger to approach the 1,000 point mark. Necaise enters the East Carolina game with 486 points and has almost tripled her scoring average from last season when she averaged 4.8 ppg. Necaise now averages 12.3 points a night.
Tough Non-Conference Schedule
Memphis went 2-9 through its non-conference schedule, playing six of the first 11 games on the road, away from the friendly confines of the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. That total did not include one game played at FedExForum, meaning the Lady Tigers have only gotten to play four games at home in the first 11 games. In the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Lady Tigers faced four NCAA teams from last year (Arizona State, Holy Cross, Ole Miss, Georgia), two Sweet Sixteen Teams (Arizona State, Georgia) and one WNIT team (Arkansas).
Necaise 22 Shy of 100 Career Threes
After senior teammate Tamika Butler became just the fourth player in Memphis history to hit 100 career three-point field goals, junior guard Devin Necaise pulled within 23 of the 100 mark as well. The junior is now 78-for-241 from three-point range for her career (.324) and is going to try to give Memphis two 100-career three point field goal shooters for the third time in Memphis history.
Necaise is also on a bit of a streak from the free-throw line, she has hit 16-of-16 shots from the charity stripe over the last seven games, including 2-for-2 against Marshall.
