Oct. 29, 2007

Complete Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

The 2007-08 version of the Lady Tiger basketball team will offer a sneak-peek to fans with an exhibition game against cross-town Rhodes College, Sunday, Nov. 4th, at 2 p.m.

This will be the third straight year that the two teams have opened the season against one another, but this will be the first year the game is not being played as part of a school-day promotion. The series originated as a mid-week afternoon game to reward Memphis elementary students for various classroom and community awards, but due to scheduling conflicts, the 2007-08 version of the game will move to a Sunday afternoon.

The Lady Tigers return six players who suited up last season, and will also have redshirt junior Jessica Hall back in uniform after she missed the last two seasons due to injury.

Memphis returns five of their top six leading scorers from last year, including senior forward Aroha Jennings (11.9 ppg) and junior forward Ashley Thornton (9.0 ppg). Thornton was also the team's leading rebounder (7.8 rpg) and finished fifth in the league in rebounding and tied for second on the team with 35 steals. Junior Paris Leonard was the fourth-leading scorer last year, averaging 7.8 ppg, while Alysse Davis and Se'erra Fantroy both played in all 31 games last season as true freshmen, with Fantroy starting 30 games from the point and finishing the year with 96 assists. Another returner who saw a lot of playing time as a freshman is Hope Adams, who played in 30 of 31 games, starting 18. The depth of experience returning to the team will give head coach Blair Savage-Lansden a good foundation to add seven newcomers to.

The Lady Tigers added five freshmen for 2007-08, including Shekeira Copeland and Savannah Ellis inside and Shae Seagraves, Valencia Tucker and Alex Winchell to the guard corps. The addition of Copeland and Ellis inside should mean both Jennings and Thornton will have some help in the paint, and Winchell will likely see a lot of playing time as the No. 2 point guard on the roster for the fall semester.

At the semester break, the staff will have to blend in two more players as junior Jessica Jackson and sophomore Latoya Bullard should become eligible after transferring from Florida in December of 2006. Jackson will give Memphis its tallest player on the roster, while Bullard will lend some depth at the point of the offense.

Memphis vs. Rhodes College
This is the fourth meeting in history between Memphis and Rhodes (which was formerly called Southwestern). The first meeting was in 1972-73, and the next two meetings have come in each of the past two seasons. Memphis leads the all-time series, 3-0.

Davis Enters Sophomore Season With Scoring Streak Intact
Sophomore forward Alysse Davis comes in to the new season with 31 games worth of experience, and also with a 19-game scoring streak. As a true freshman, Davis opened her collegiate career with 11 points, the first of seven double-digit scoring games for the Corpus Christi, Texas product. But as opposing teams adjusted to the new line-up, Davis struggled to find consistency in scoring, averaging 4.4 ppg. In the next 15 games of the season, she would average 6.4 ppg and would score in the last 19 straight games of the season.

More Depth Up Front for 2007-08
With the signing of freshmen Shekeira Copeland and Savannah Ellis, and with the transfer of junior center Jessica Jackson, Memphis probably has the most depth up front that head coach Blair Savage-Lansden has had in any of her four seasons in the Bluff City. In 2006-07, the front line accounted for 963 of Memphis' 1673 points (57.6 percent). But that number also included Ashley Thornton and Aroha Jennings both playing out of position. With the addition of the newcomers, that should allow both Thornton and Jennings to play at the forward spot instead of having to step in and play as an undersized center in the offense and on the defensive end against significantly larger players.

Leonard Next Likely Candidate for 1,000 Point Club
Junior guard Paris Leonard enters the 2007-08 season with 536 career points, meaning she needs 464 more to become the 19th player in school history to join the 1,000 point club. She could pass the mark this season as a junior if she averages over 15.5 points per game, but her best scoring total in her first two seasons was 334 points as a freshman.

Adams Looking to Hit 100-100 Club
Sophomore guard Hope Adams is just five points shy of her 100th career point and just seven rebounds shy of her 100th career rebound. The Oxford, Miss., native played in 30 of 31 games last year, starting in 18, including the last 14 straight games.

Thornton Ready for Another Season of Work on the Glass
Junior forward Ashley Thornton led Memphis and finished fifth in the league in rebounding last year in her first year as a Lady Tiger after transferring from Birmingham Southern. She was the lone Lady Tiger to start in and play in all 31 games, finishing with four double-doubles. She opened the season with a bang, bringing home a double-double in three of the first five games. For the season, she finished with six double-digit rebounding nights and with 10 double-digit scoring nights.

Heard of Soft Scheduling? Not Here in Memphis.
When Blair Savage-Lansden was hired as the Lady Tigers head coach back on June 10 of 2004, there were a few games on the schedule and a few contracts that had been signed that had to be honored that historically have made for some very difficult competition for a young coach in her first head coaching job. Since Savage has come to Memphis, the Lady Tigers have faced the following teams: No. 10 Arizona State, No. 11 Georgia (twice), No. 12 Vanderbilt, No. 20 Louisville, No. 21 Marquette, No. 24 Arkansas and No. 19 Nebraska.

About our 2007-08 Opponents

Memphis will play 29 regular season games, including seven of the first eight at home (2006-07 record in parentheses)

Tennessee Tech (12-18 overall, 11-9 in OVC): Won seven of their last 11 games in 2006-07 and were picked to finish fifth in the OVC Coaches Poll to begin the 2007-08 season.
Southeastern Louisiana (17-13, 9-7 in Southland): Will be making their second straight appearance at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse; Will have 10 new faces for 2007-08 while trying to repeat SLC East Division Champion ship from 06-07.
Creighton (13-19, 8-10 in Missouri Valley): Memphis' first road game of the year; returns all five starters from a team that advanced to the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament before falling in double-overtime.
Tennessee State(7-22, 1-13 in OVC): Picked to finish 10th in the OVC coaches' poll; returns second team preseason all-conference honoree Obiageli Okafor, the team's leading scorer last season.
Louisiana Tech (17-13, 12-4 Western Athletic Conference): Finished first in the regular season of the WAC, but were upset in the league tournament; team voted not to participate in WNIT play even though regular season champs were guaranteed a berth in the tourney.
Northwestern State (10-20, 6-10 in Southland): Returns nine letterwinners from last season and signed a junior college player who ranked second in the nation in scoring last season.
Alabama A&M (17-13, 6-8 in SWAC): Returns 13 letterwinners from last season; won 11 straight games to open the season, then lost six of their last eight.
Mississippi State (18-14, 7-7 SEC): A WNIT tournament team from 2006-07, the Bulldogs return all five starters and 12 letterwinners for 2007-08.
Belmont (25-7, 16-2 in Atlantic-Sun): An NCAA team in 2006-07, Belmont returns five letterwinners and three starters.
Arkansas (18-13, 3-11 in SEC): Will be under their first season with head coach Tom Cullen; Cullen should be familar with the Lady Tigers as he was the head coach at Louisville last year when Memphis opened the season in a three-game tournament there.
Loyola-Chicago (7-21 overall, 5-11 in the Horizon League): Picked to finish 10th in the Horizon League; returns three starters, all sophomores, and added a junior college guard who helped her team rank No. 1 in the country last year.
Florida Gulf Coast (34-1, n/a): In their provisional year at NCAA Division I, the Eagles won 34 straight games before falling in the NCAA Division II Championship game last year; the team returns two starters and six letterwinners off that team for 2007-08, their first year in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
UT Pan American (11-18, Independent): An NCAA team with no conference affiliation, UT Pan American returns 11 letterwinners, but just one starter from last season's team.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-20, 10-8 in the SWAC): Will have an abundance of young talent with eight newcomers for 2007-08.
Toledo (11-19, 6-10 in Mid-American): Played in Canada during the Labor Day break from school, so the five newcomers should be well-seasoned to begin the 2007-08 season.
UAB (19-13,12-4 in C-USA): A WNIT team from last season, loses starting point guard Carmen Guzman, but has pre-season all-conference honoree Diamond Rogers back, as well as Crystal McFadden off the injured reserve.
Marshall (15-15, 8-8 in C-USA): Returns eight letterwinners and three starters from last season's team, including leading scorer Meg Withrow.
East Carolina (19-14, 11-5 in C-USA): An NCAA team last year after winning the Conference USA tournament title, the Pirates return seven letterwinners and four starters, including junior guard Jasmine Young.
Tulane (26-7, 13-3 in C-USA): Won the C-USA regular season title and was a WNIT team, advancing to the second round where they lost to Mississippi State; picked to win C-USA in coaches' poll.
UTEP (22-8, 10-6 in C-USA): Return four starters and picked second in the C-USA Coaches' Poll; returns sophomore point guard Jareica Hughes, who was named to the pre-season all-conference team.
Houston (9-19, 5-11 in C-USA): Has an impressive class of newcomers and returns C-USA pre-season player of the year Tye Jackson.
Rice (19-14, 10-6 in C-USA): Another WNIT team last year, the Owls were picked to finish sixth in C-USA with eight letterwinners lost off that team, but they still return center Valeriya Berezhynska in the middle.
Southern Miss (15-15, 9-7 in C-USA): Adds eight new players for 2007-08 with just one starter lost, although that starter was all-conference point guard Kristin Chaney.
UCF (8-22, 1-11 in C-USA): Playing in a new building, with a new head coach, and with 10 brand new players, the Golden Knights are an unknown entity in C-USA right now. But Memphis won't see them until Feb. 9th for the first time, before UCF returns to play at Memphis, Mar. 1st.
SMU (18-12, 9-7 in C-USA): Returns all five starters and 10 letterwinners for the season, including pre-season all-conference honoree Janielle Dodds.
Tulsa (11-19, 5-11 in C-USA): Loses Jillian Robbins and three other starters from last season's team, but has five newcomers to fill the spots vacated.