Jan. 9, 2008
Complete Weekly Release in PDF Format 
The University of Memphis women's basketball team will host the Marshall Thundering Herd, Thursday night at 7 p.m. in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
This is the sixth meeting between the two schools, dating back to Marshall's 2005-06 entry in to Conference USA. Marshall swept the series meetings that first season, then eliminated the Lady Tigers from the conference tournament, then repeated the regular season sweep in 2006-07. But the second meeting of the season at Marshall was one of the more physical between the two teams. In the game, Memphis trimmed a 28-18 half time deficit to 39-36 with 12:28 remaining in the game when Paris Leonard drew a blocking call. That call fired up the Marshall crowd and bench, and sophomore Meg Withrow reeled off nine straight points en route a 73-60 win. The victory was the 300th NCAA Division I win in Marshall Head Coach Royce Chadwick's coaching history.
But its a pair of different teams in first match-up in the 2007-08 season. Gone for Marshall is 6-6-2 center Modupe Ishola, who when combined when travel partner East Carolina's Cherie Mills for a weekend of conference play, used to give Memphis fits inside, drawing double and triple teams from the Lady Tigers in an effort to make up for their lack of inside size.
This year, it's a trio of guards that leads the Marshall offense, with senior guard Kizzy Hart leading the team with 14.6 ppg, while junior guard Casey Baker adds 12.9 points per night. The final double-digit scorer for Marshall is redshirt sophomore guard/forward Alyssa Hammond, who averages 11.1 points per game. Senior forward Meagan Samis leads the Marshall effort on the glass with 5.4 rebounds per game, while freshman forward Tynikki Crook is second with 4.9 rebounds per game. On defense, Baker leads the team with 50 steals and is part of a well-balanced offense, as three different players have 30 or more assists so far this season for Marshall.
Memphis now has five players averaging double-digit points, led by Paris Leonard's 13.1 ppg average, while Ashley Thornton adds 11.5 ppg. The other three starters for Memphis all average a little over 10 points a game, including sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard, who is coming off a career-best 23-point game at UAB. Jessica Jackson has given Memphis some much-needed size inside, and has quickly moved in to the team lead with 14 blocks so far in her first seven games in a Memphis uniform. Jackson's 6.0 rebound per game average is second only to Thornton's 7.7 rebounds per game for the Lady Tigers. Memphis is looking to snap a season-long four game losing streak, which includes a pair of overtime losses.
Memphis vs. Marshall
This is the sixth meeting between Memphis and Marshall and the Thundering Herd leads the overall series 5-0. In the previous five meetings, Memphis has scored more than 50 points just two times. The Lady Tigers suffered an 80-73 loss to Marshall in the C-USA tournament in 2005-06, then scored 60 points in a 73-60 loss in a physical contest at Marshall last season in the last meeting between the two teams.
Former Lady Tiger on the Opposing Bench
The C-USA contest against Marshall will mark one of two times a former Lady Tiger will be sitting on the opposing bench. Jordie Soso (2002-2004) is in her first year as an assistant coach at Marshall after spending last season at NCAA Division II Edinsboro University in Pennsylvania. Soso began her coaching career at Christian Brothers University in Memphis after a two-year Lady Tiger career that saw her average 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. She played in 54 games as a Lady Tiger, with 22 starts.
The next time a Lady Tiger is on the opposing bench will be in the second-to-last game of the regular season when Southern Miss comes to the Fieldhouse, bringing former Lady Tiger Shannon Hamp (1999-2003). Hamp is in her first year as an assistant coach at USM, after working as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations last season with USM.
Bullard Scores Career-High 23 at UAB
Sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard had an impressive showing in her first career Conference USA game, scoring 21 of her 23 points in the second half. Bullard set career highs with nine field goals made in 14 attempts, and tied a career-best with a pair of three-point field goals made.
Double Digit Scorers Struggle
All five Memphis starters are now averaging double-digits, giving the Lady Tigers a more potent offense than they've had in a while. But that also means that some players are struggling to find scoring consistency. Against UAB, leading scorer Paris Leonard, who was averaging 13.8 ppg, managed just four first half points in the league opener, and was scoreless in the second 20 minutes. Fellow guard Jessica Hall also struggled to find her stroke at UAB, going 0-for-6 and suffering her first scoreless performance of the season. Jessica Jackson also missed double digits after going up against a team with another big inside player. She finished with nine points on 3-of-14 shooting from the floor (21.4 percent). Ashley Thornton was the fourth Lady Tiger averaging double digits coming in to the UAB game, and finished with seven points. But Thornton attempted just three shots on the night, as her shots per game average has dropped from 7.89 average attempts per game when Thornton started as the five to 6.2 shots per game when she started at the four. In the last two games, she has attempted just 4.0 shots per game.
Ellis Ranking Among Freshmen Bests
Freshman center Savannah Ellis currently ranks fourth in Conference USA among the league's freshman in field goal percentage. Ellis' 52.4 percent average trails just three other players, but the freshman has also attempted the fewest amount of shots (21) among the top seven league freshman. Southern Miss' Shanice Mays is first with a 59.1 percent shooting clip on 22 attempts, while UCF's Tia Lewis and Tulane's Brittany Lindsey are having very impressive seasons, shooting 59.0 and 54.9 percent, respectively, from the floor, with both having attempted well over 130 shots already this season.
Ellis also ranks sixth among league freshmen with 0.60 blocks per game.
Teammate Alex Winchell is the only other Lady Tiger freshman among the league top five in any category. Winchell ranks fourth among the first-year players with 2.50 assists per game.
Junior Class Making an Impact
Memphis is powered by its junior class if the stats are correct. Paris Leonard ranks third among league juniors with 13.1 ppg, while teammate Ashley Thornton is fifth with 11.5 ppg. Jessica Hall is eighth with 10.6 ppg, and Jessica Jackson rounds out the Memphis foursome in the rankings in 11th spot with her 10.1 ppg average.
Thornton leads all league juniors with 7.7 rebounds per game, with Jackson's 6.0 rebound per game average ranking third. Leonard ranks sixth in rebounding among her junior classmates with 4.6 rpg.
Offense Strongest Its Been Under Savage
The Lady Tigers are averaging just under 70 points per game (69.6 ppg) so far in 2006-07. That is the highest ppg average a Lady Tiger team has had under fourth year head coach Blair Savage-Lansden and was one of the reasons for the change to the motion offense on Savage's hire.
Free-Throw Line Struggles Continue
After setting a school record with a team free-throw shooting percentage of 72.3 percent last season, the Lady Tigers are not finding points as easy to come by at the line in 2007-08, with a 65.0 percent shooting clip.
Fewer Points From Beyond the Arc This Year
In each of the past two seasons, the Lady Tigers have set school records for team three-point field goals made in a season (154 in 2005-06 and 188 in 2006-07). So far this year, Memphis it hitting 30.0 percent from three-point range, which ranks well behind the shooting clips from the past two seasons. The 63 three-point field goals made also trails the 69 three-point field goals the Lady Tiger defense has given up this season. But the lack of three-point shooting hasn't slowed down the Lady Tiger offense, which is averaging more points per game this year than any other Savage-coached team.
Perimeter Defense Being Tested
Earlier in the season against non-conference opponents, Memphis ranked either first or second in the league in three-point field goal percentage. Just twice in the first nine games, Memphis allowed opponents to shoot more than 40 percent from beyond the arc. Since returning from the break, the Lady Tigers have had three of their five opponents shoot better than 40 percent from the arc (Loyola Chicago 52.9 percent, Toledo 45.0 percent and UAB 46.2 percent). With those numbers, Memphis has fallen all the way to ninth in the league in three-point field goal percentage defense.
Watch Your Pocket Thursday Night!
The C-USA match-up with Marshall will two of the league's top four teams in steals. Marshall ranks third with 9.43 steals per game, while Memphis ranks fourth with 8.64 steals a night. Expect both coaches to preach taking care of the ball in their pre-game reports. And taking care of the ball is something Marshall does well, ranking second in the league in turnover margin at +2.43, and second in assist-to-turnover ratio with a 0.92 ranking as a team. Memphis ranks 10th in both of those categories.
Leonard Breaks in to Memphis Top 30 in Scoring
Junior guard Paris Leonard has already moved in to the Memphis top 30 in career scoring with 720 points heading in to the Marshall game. Leonard need 36 points to tie Malissa Bush (1998-2002), and 40 points to tie Raven Rogers (2001-05). She then needs to pass Felicia Sparks (771) and Melissa Abraham (792) before she has a shot at passing currently Lady Tiger assistant coach Jennifer Sullivan (800). Sullivan currently ranks 25th all-time in scoring.
Jennings 13 Points Shy of 500
Given that she came to Memphis with just two seasons, Aroha Jennings will not make the Lady Tiger 1,000-career point mark, but that does not distract from the impressive fact that just 14 games in to the 2007-08 season, Jennings is just 13 points shy of her 500th career point. Jennings already ranks 51st in career scoring at Memphis after playing in just 45 career games. Teammate Ashley Thornton is just 60 points from the 500 point mark, also having played in 45 career games.
Bullard 27 Shy of First 100 Points
In just seven games, sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard has already made a mark, and heads in to the Marshall game needing just 27 points for 100 for her very young Lady Tiger career.
