Jan. 29, 2010

Game Notes in PDF Format

The University of Memphis women's basketball team (12-7, 5-1 C-USA) improved to 3-0 on the road and picked up the program's first-ever win over Marshall on Thursday night, but faces a stiff task when they wrap up a two-game C-USA road weekend at East Carolina, Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. (ET). In ECU, Memphis faces a team that had its best non-conference start in school history and that was the last undefeated team in the league standings before falling on the road at Rice and SMU.

Even with the graduation of a pair of all-conference performing guards in LaCoya Terry and Jasmine Young, ECU has still gotten scoring production from its guard spot as youngsters Ashley Clarke and Allison Spivey were apparently just waiting their opportunity in the wings. Clarke leads ECU with 12.7 points per game, ranks second with 4.8 rebounds, and leads ECU with 110 assists and 50 steals. She shoots 47.6 percent from the floor and leads the Pirates in free-throw attempts with 94 on the season. She is one of three Pirates to average double digits in league play, with Spivey leading ECU against league foes with 12.9 points, while West Virginia transfer Kelly Smith adds 10.6 ppg against league foes.

Memphis has seemed to find a fondness for all things `10' -- Memphis snapped a 10-game losing streak at FedExForum with the win over Rice and snapped another 10-game losing streak to Marshall with Thursday night's victory. Well, there will be another 10 in the Tigers future, as ECU is undefeated at home so far this season -- 10-0.

Memphis' seven point win over Marshall was the Tigers' biggest conference victory of the season, and improved the team's mark to 8-3 in games decided by single digits.

It has been defense that has gotten Memphis to the top of the league standings early in the conference slate, as the Tigers rank second in C-USA in points allowed and first in field goal percentage defense.

Against Marshall, Memphis held the Thundering Herd's leading scorer, Chantelle Handy, to just seven points in 18 minutes of play as Handy picked up her third personal foul in the first half.The Series History East Carolina leads the overall series with Memphis 7-6, including a 1-5 record in games played in Greenville. The Tigers have won 3 of the last 4 meetings, but lost the game in Greenville last season, 83-66. In last year's meeting, Memphis shot 50 percent in the opening half, but still trailed big, 42-30, at the half, as ECU connected on 9-of-15 threes in the win. Luckily for Memphis, three of the four Pirates who knocked down threes in that game (Jasmine Young, LaCoya Terry and Gabriela Husarova) graduated, but Allison Spivey returns after hitting 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in that game and finishing with nine points and five assists.

Tigers Taking to Ten
Memphis seems to like ending things that come in 10s. The team picked up its first-ever win at FedExForum after 10 losses; won at Marshall Thursday night for the team's first-ever win over the Thundering Herd following 10 losses and now face an East Carolina team that is undefeated at home (10-0) so far this season.

Tiger Bench Comes Up Big at Marshall
Two of Memphis' double-digit scorers came off the bench on Thursday night. Junior guard Alex Winchell came in and knocked down four triples to finish with 12 points, adding two assists and a steal in 26 minutes of play. Freshman forward Nicole Dickson stepped up and had a rough shooting night, shooting 5-for-13, but finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, one assist and two steals in 30 minutes of play. Both saw significant minutes with Brittany Carter and Taylor Mumphrey in foul trouble.

Road Warriors
Memphis won half of its games last year on the road (6 of 12), including a 4-4 mark in C-USA play. The Tigers are off to an unblemished start in league road play following wins at East Division foes UCF, Southern Miss and Marshall, but will have their hands full Saturday. The Tigers are 1-4 in Greenville against East Carolina. The only Tiger on the roster who played in Memphis' last road win at ECU was junior guard Alex Winchell. Junior center Savannah Ellis was also on the roster for that last game, but did not play, missing her only game of her freshman campaign.

Free Basketball
Memphis trailed 47-42 with 44 seconds remaining in the game against Rice on Saturday and got a pair of baskets from Brittany Carter and one of two free-throws from LaToya Bullard to make it to an overtime session, where the Tigers built a six point lead, then held on for the 59-58 overtime win.

The overtime appearance was the first of the season for Memphis and the second of the program's history under McFerrin. Memphis won its last overtime game as well, 77-72, at Southern Miss in the regular season finale last year.

Keeping Fans on the Edges of Their Seats
The Tigers are a team that has a lot of experience in close games. Ten of Memphis' first 18 games were decided by single digits, with Memphis sporting a 7-3 record in games decided by single digits.

Getting Defensive
Looking at overall stats, Memphis ranks seventh in C-USA with 64.6 ppg given up in scoring defense. But since the calendar rolled to 2010 and Conference USA play, the Tigers have gotten downright stingy, holding opponents to just 59.6 ppg (2nd in the league) and ranking first in the league-only stats by holding opponents to just 32.3 percent from the floor.

C-USA Road Sweep On Last Trip
The Tigers picked up a pair of impressive road wins in their first road weekend, defeating each of the two teams from last year's C-USA Tournament Championship game on their respective home floors. The last time Memphis swept a C-USA road series was in 2003-04 when they won at Tulane and Southern Miss.

Keep it Down!
Memphis has gotten fired up to play some defense against some pretty dominant players in Conference USA. Against SMU, the Tigers held second team all-conference player Brittany Gilliam to just six points and two rebounds in 23 minutes, and then held the league's pre-season player of the year, UCF's Emma Cannon, to just eight points. Cannon did own Memphis on the glass though, posting 20 rebounds on the Tigers for the second time in her three-year-old C-USA career. In the win at Southern Miss on Sunday, the Golden Eagles were without their leading scorer Pauline Love, but Memphis held the team's second-leading scorer, Candace Rucker, to just nine points and four rebounds before she fouled out after 22 minutes of play.