Feb. 27, 2008
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
The University of Memphis women's basketball team (9-18, 6-8 C-USA) will wrap up its 2007-08 home stand with a pair of league contests, beginning with Southern Miss (16-11, 7-7 C-USA), Thursday night.
The game takes on even more importance in light of the current C-USA standings. Southern Miss is a game behind a Houston club that has lost its last five games in the bid for the fourth, and final, first round bye in the league championships, while Memphis could finish anywhere from fifth to ninth in the standings depending on how the final two regular season games go.
Memphis would need to win out its final two games (USM, UCF) in order to finish at 8-8. Depending on who Memphis ends up tied with in the standings, the Lady Tigers hold tiebreakers over East Carolina, Tulsa, Tulane and Rice and are on the short end (as of now) of series ties with USM and Marshall). Memphis is currently knotted with Marshall and Tulsa. In the slot ahead of the three-way tie is Southern Miss and East Carolina (7-7). From there, Memphis would need some help from other league schools to move in to the fifth spot. Southern Miss could still catch UAB or Houston for either the third or fourth seed of the tournament.
Memphis is coming in to Thursday night's game off their first-ever win at East Carolina on Saturday. That game was especially impressive as Memphis was without leading scorer Jessica Hall, who suffered a shoulder injury in the last minute of the first half at Marshall. Against ECU, junior center Jessica Jackson had her best C-USA effort, finishing with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard also had her best night of the league schedule in terms of running the point, handing out 11 assists against just two turnovers, and adding six rebounds and seven points on 3-for-8 shooting.
USM brings with it the nation's 33rd-ranked offense, averaging 73.1 ppg. All five Golden Eagles can shoot the ball, as the team's 46.7 percent field goal percentage ranks 11th in the country. Sophomore forward Pauline Love will take a majority of the team's shots, averaging 16.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Three other Golden Eagles also average double digits, led by Stephanie Helgeson's 12.0 ppg, and Kendra Reed's 11.6 ppg. Amber Eugene rounds out the double-digit scorers with 10.2 ppg. USM crashes the glass, out-rebounding its opponents by almost four rebounds a night while the inside players pose a force to inside shooters with 117 blocks so far this season, including 66 from Helgeson.
Memphis vs. Southern Miss
This is the 45th meeting between Memphis and Southern Miss, with the Lady Tigers holding a slight 23-21 advantage heading in to tonight's game. Southern Miss has a five-game winning streak in the series, having swept all the series match-ups dating back to 2005-06.
Alternating Wins and Losses
The Lady Tigers have alternated wins and losses over the last eight games, pushing their league record to 6-8 after an 0-2 start to the conference slate. The 61-59 win at East Carolina was the first ever Memphis victory at East Carolina in five tries and also marked the first Lady Tiger victory after trailing at the five-minute mark. Memphis trailed 55-51 with 5:00 to play at ECU, but got back-to-back threes from Paris Leonard sandwiched around an ECU jumper to erase the deficit and tie the game at 57-57. Latoya Bullard drove the paint to try break the tie with a lay-up, but was blocked by the ECU defense. Freshman Alex Winchell flashed to the wing and Bullard saw her and got her the ball. Winchell knocked down the triple to put Memphis in front and the Lady Tiger defense managed to hang on for the win when Paris Leonard drew a charge with 0.5 seconds remaining to seal the game.
Bullard Hands Out 100th Assist
Sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard became the first Lady Tiger since 2005-06 to hand out 100 or more assists in a single season with a career-best 11 assist effort at East Carolina to give her 103 assists heading in to the final conference weekend. Bullard managed to hit the 100-assist mark despite only being eligible to play the second semester after sitting out the fall semester per NCAA transfer rules.
Splitting Conference Series
Memphis is still looking to sweep its first-ever conference weekend. To date, the Lady Tigers have split every conference weekend on the slate. Five times, Memphis has lost the first game of a conference weekend, only to bounce back to win the second game to salvage the split. On one weekend, Memphis won the first game, but dropped the second game (Tulane/UTEP).
Jackson Coming Off Best Conference Outing
The East Carolina game was the game of the conference slate for junior center Jessica Jackson. Jackson led Memphis with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the win at ECU, season-bests in all three categories since league play began back in January. The 18 points was her sixth double-digit outing of the season, but her first since a 12-point night at UTEP (1/20/08).
Home Sweet Home
Memphis has seen a lot planes, trains and busses as of late, spending 11 of the first 23 days of February on the road. Memphis has gone 3-3 in that tough stretch, but will have its hands full in its final home weekend against Southern Miss and UCF.
Hall Moves In To Single Season Top 10
Redshirt junior Jessica Hall moved in to the single season top 10 in three-point field goals made with her three triples at Marshall. With 45 threes made so far this year, Hall is currently tied for ninth overall with current Assistant Director of Basketball Operations LaTonya Johnson's 1996-97 season. Two more triples will push Hall in to a three-way tie with Johnson's 1994-95 season and Kelly Herron's 1998-99 season.
For her 55-game old Lady Tiger career, Hall has 58 career triples, ranking her ninth on the list of career threes for Memphis.
She is also approaching the 500 career point mark, with 449 points heading in to the East Carolina game. With 51 more points, she would become the fourth player on the Lady Tiger roster with over 500 career points.
Leonard Pushing 900
Junior guard Paris Leonard will likely be Memphis' next 1,000 career point scorer, heading in to this weekend with 859 career points (41 shy of the 900 point mark). While it will likely be her senior season before she hits the 1,000 point mark, she is gathering points in bunches from beyond the arc. She knocked down four triples at ECU, including back-to-back threes with Memphis down by four, 55-51, to move to 97 triples for her career. With just three more threes, Leonard will become the sixth Lady Tiger to connect on 100 or more threes in her career.
Jennings Wrapping Up Her Lady Tiger Home Career
This weekend will be the final home weekend for senior forward Aroha Jennings, a transfer from Dodge City Community College in Kansas. Jennings comes in to the weekend needing 19 more points to pass 600 for her two-year Lady Tiger career, which spans 58 games so far heading in to this weekend. Jennings averages 10.0 points and 4.9 rebounds so far in her career at Memphis, including 64 steals, 19 blocked shots and 90 assists.
Best League Win Total in Four Years
The six C-USA victories is the Lady Tigers' highest win total in conference play since 2003-04's nine-win league team. The six wins ties the 2002-03 team, who went 6-8. In the last seven seasons, Memphis has managed six wins just three times now (2007-08, 2003-04, 2001-02). In that same stretch, Memphis has never finished the league standings higher than sixth (2003-04). The 2002-03 squad finished 8th and the 2001-02 team (the two-other six-plus league win teams) finished 10th in the C-USA standings. If Memphis could manage to finish either fifth or sixth in the standings this season, it would be the highest league finish since 2003-04. The Lady Tigers have finished in the top six in the league just one time (2003-04) since the league standings merged in 2001-02 after being separated in two (1997-2001) and three (1995-1997) divisions in the early years of the league.
First C-USA Series Sweep
With the win at East Carolina, Memphis swept its first two-game league series since 2003-04 when Memphis swept former-C-USA member Saint Louis, 69-65 and 69-60.
Big Weekend for the Memphis Posts
The Memphis centers might have had their best weekend of the season last weekend. At Marshall, freshman Savannah Ellis came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points and tying a career high with eight rebounds. Two nights later, Jessica Jackson came off the bench for her best effort of the league portion of the schedule, finishing with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.
Winchell One Shy of Seventh in Freshman Threes
Freshman guard Alex Winchell hit two threes in the win at East Carolina, including the game-winner. That pushed her to 27 threes on the year, which ranks eighth among all Memphis freshmen. She needs one more three to tie Kim Gilchrist (1987-88) and two more to tie former teammate Alysse Davis' mark of 29 from last season. Winchell's 10 points at ECU gave her back-to-back double digit scoring nights for the first time in her young Lady Tiger career.
Ellis Has Best Career Night From the Field
Savannah Ellis might be a lock for the team's Most Improved Player award. The freshman was 5-for-5 from the field, scoring a career-high 14 points in the loss to Marshall. The 14 points was her first career double-digit scoring night. She also tied a career-best with eight rebounds. In the last three games, she has averaged 6.0 rpg and 7.0 ppg off the bench.
Jennings Free-Throw Streak Snapped
Senior Aroha Jennings had hit 16 straight free-throws before stepping to the line to shoot a pair of technical fouls with less than a second to play at ECU. Jennings missed the first foul shot, ending her streak. She connected on the second shot to make it a two-point game and to score her only point of the game.
Bullard 24 Points Shy of 200th Point
Latoya Bullard comes in to the ECU game just 24 points shy of passing the 200-point career mark through her first 19 games of her career. Bullard is also past the 100 career assist mark and passed the 50 steal mark last weekend.
About our 2007-08 Opponents
Memphis will play 29 regular season games, including seven of the first eight at home. Here are how our past and future opponents are doing:
Tennessee Tech (8-21, 7-12 OVC overall): Fell 67-56 to Morehead State; hosts Murray State Thursday in home finale.
Southeastern Louisiana (11-14 overall, 5-7 SLC): Won fourth time in last five games, defeating Nicholls State 63-57; hosts Central Arkansas, Thursday.
Creighton (16-9 overall, 9-5 MVC): Fell by one, 52-51 at Bradley; hosts league-leading Illinois State, Friday.
Tennessee State (12-15 overall, 9-9 OVC): Used a career-high 50 point night from Kendra Appling to upend Jacksonville State, 91-77; plays at Morehead State, Thursday.
Louisiana Tech (12-13 overall, 6-6 WAC): Defeated San Jose State, 70-54; hosts Utah State, Thursday.
Alabama A&M (11-12 overall, 9-5 SWAC): Completed the weekend sweep with a 59-49 win over Alcorn State; plays at Prairie View A&M, Saturday.
Mississippi State (16-12 overall, 4-9 SEC): Fell at No. 3 Tennessee, 72-46; hosts No. 6 LSU, Sunday.
Belmont (13-14 overall, 7-7 A-Sun): Fell to Lipscomb, 68-52; hosts Campbell, Thursday.
Arkansas (17-10 overall, 2-10 SEC): Comeback fell just short of Kentucky, 59-56; plays at LSU Thursday.
Loyola-Chicago (6-19 overall, 4-10 Horizon): Fell on a last second jumper versus UW Green Bay, 52-51; plays at Wright State, Thursday.
Florida Gulf Coast (16-8 overall, 11-3 A-Sun): Defeated Stetson 58-44; hosts Jacksonville, Thursday.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (9-17 overall, 7-8 SWAC): Fell in overtime to Texas Southern, 70-65; plays at Grambling State, Saturday.
Toledo (10-14 overall, 3-9 MAC): Lost sixth straight, 76-49 at Ball State; hosts Eastern Michigan in home finale, Wednesday.
UAB (13-14 overall, 9-5 C-USA): Defeated Marshall, 60-48 while playing without leading scorer Diamond Rogers; hosts UCF Thursday.
Marshall (14-14 overall, 6-8 C-USA): Fell to UAB, 60-48; plays at Rice, Thursday.
East Carolina (13-14, 7-7 C-USA): Fell to Memphis 61-59; plays at Rice, Saturday.
Tulane (14-13 overall, 4-10 C-USA): Lost at Southern Miss, 72-57; hosts Tulsa, Thursday.
UTEP (23-2 overall, 14-0 C-USA): Won 19th straight game, 89-74 at UCF; hosts second seeded SMU, Thursday on CSTV.
Houston (14-14 overall, 8-6 C-USA): Lost fifth straight game, 85-74 to SMU; hosts East Carolina, Thursday.
Rice (11-17 overall, 4-10 C-USA): Defeated Tulsa, 57-49; hosts Marshall, Thursday.
Southern Miss (16-11 overall, 7-7 C-USA): Bounced back from a tough overtime loss to UTEP to defeat Tulane, 72-57; plays at Memphis Thursday.
UCF (9-18 overall, 2-12 C-USA): Fell 89-74 to No. 19/25 UTEP; plays at UAB, Thursday.
SMU (21-6 overall, 11-3 C-USA): Defeated Hosuton, 85-74; plays at No. 19/25 UTEP Thursday on CSTV.
Tulsa (10-17 overall, 6-8 C-USA): Fell to Rice, 57-49; plays at Tulane, Thursday.
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