Feb. 11, 2010

Game Notes in PDF Format

You can purchase tickets for the game here to save standing in line to get in.

Attention Pouncers' Pals: Pouncers' Pals members can bring one adult with them and both will receive free admission and Pouncers' Pals will receive a free Tiger tattoo!

The University of Memphis women's basketball team (13-9, 6-3 C-USA) hosts a pair of crucial home contests this weekend, starting Friday against a resurgent Southern Miss team (7-15, 3-6 C-USA).

This meeting will be a very different meeting from the first one this season between the two teams, as Southern Miss will have senior forward Pauline Love back in the line-up. Love missed the first game while suffering after-effects from a concussion sustained in practice and the Lady Eagles were without their leading scorer (16.6 ppg) and the nation's second leading rebounder (12.8). That Southern Miss squad was in the midst of an 11-game losing streak that they snapped emphatically with an 80-63 win over Tulane, a team that is currently atop the league standings with Memphis and Houston.

The depth that Southern Miss developed with Love out of the line-up has helped USM to a three-game winning streak, the longest in the conference. Senior Candace Rucker, a Memphis native who played at Colorado, then Southwest Tennessee Community College, stepped up in Love's absence and averages 13.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in league play, while Tanesha Washington put on a post scoring clinic in the first meeting, knocking down 23 points with 12 rebounds in the first meeting against the Tigers. Washington is now the third double-digit scorer for USM, averaging 10.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.

Memphis is looking to take care of its home court, and take care of the ball, after a 25-turnover outing at Houston resulted in a six-point Tiger loss on the road. The Tigers shot 44.3 percent from the floor in that game, but with both teams turning the ball over (both teams had 25 turnovers apiece), the free-throw line made all the difference, as Memphis was just 6-for-10 from the line, while sending Houston to the line 23 times, where the Cougars hit 16 attempts to seal the win and withstand a late 15-0 Memphis run that cut the Houston lead to just four with less than a minute to play.

The Tigers will need their front line to step up against both USM and UCF, as both teams have a strong post player who can rebound and score. Memphis, meanwhile, had starting forward Taylor Mumphrey in the line-up for just eight minutes in the Houston loss, as the junior post struggled to score (1-for-3) and had two turnovers in the first three minutes of the game. Against Love and UCF's Emma Cannon, Memphis will need defense and production from its front line in order to get back on the winning track with just four regular season home games remaining.

The Series History
This is the 48th meeting between Memphis and Southern Miss, and Memphis holds a slight 26-21 advantage in the overall series, including wins in each of the last two meetings. But Memphis has never swept the season series against the Lady Eagles, since the league began the home-and-home set up for East Division squads in 2005-06.

USM defeated Memphis last year in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, 74-65.

McFerrin Wins No. 75
Melissa McFerrin is not one to draw attention to her own milestones, but the win over UAB was her 75th career victory.

In just her second season at Memphis, she is clawing back to the .500 career mark, sporting a 25-27 record as the leader of the Tiger program, just 52 games in.

Rare Flip of Turnovers
The Tigers rank in the top third in the country in turnovers per game, but have been on the wrong end of that stat in the last two road games. At East Carolina, Memphis had 25 turnovers against just 14 steals in the team's worst loss of the season.

In the last game at Houston, Memphis, who averaged 16.0 turnovers a game heading in to the game at Houston, had 14 turnovers in the first half alone. The Tigers also wrapped up just 10 steals against Houston, getting out-scored on points off turnovers, 24-22.

Carter Moves to Sixth in Sophomore Single Season Scoring
Sophomore guard Brittany Carter used her 17 point outing at Houston to move to sixth all-time among the Memphis sophomore single season records. Her 399 points this season is the sixth-highest season scoring total of any Tiger sophomore and is just 180 points shy of the top 10 single season mark of ANY Tiger player (regardless of class).

Ellis in Junior Single Season Records
Junior center Savannah Ellis leads Memphis with 28 blocked shots so far this season. That ties the 7th-best single season mark for Memphis juniors. Ellis is tied with Damita Shazier's (1987-88) mark and is just one behind Glynetha Davis' mark from 1987-88. Ellis needs five more blocks to move in to the overall single season top 10 at Memphis. The Wichita, Kan., native currently ranks fourth at Memphis in career blocked shots with 83.

Fellow junior Taylor Mumphrey is also moving up in the junior single season records, with 25 blocked shots, which is the 10th-best single season total among the junior classes.

The 400 Club?B With so many new faces on the Memphis roster (eight newcomers to the court this year), Memphis will not have a 1,000 career point celebration this year, but might be making some progress toward some future celebrations with four different players working toward their 400th career points.

Sophomore Ramses Lonlack was the first to pass the 400 point mark with her three points against UAB. Brittany Carter's next point will be her 400th career point, and Savannah Ellis needs just five more points to hit 400 for her Tiger career.

Senior guard LaToya Bullard is 32 points from 400 for her career, but went over the 200 career assist mark against Houston.

Winchell Knocks Down 100th Career Triple; Looking For Point 600
With a pair of three-point field goals in the win over Jackson State, Alex Winchell knocked down Nos. 100 and 101 from three-point range, becoming just the seventh Tiger in Memphis history to hit 100 or more career threes.

Heading in to the Southern Miss game, Winchell has 117 career threes and is now 14 points shy of her 600th career point.

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 started league road with a 3-0 mark this year, picking up wins at East Division foes UCF, Southern Miss and Marshall, before falling victim to East Carolina and the Pirates 10-0 home record.