Nov. 12, 2008
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
Northern Arizona Notes in PDF Format
Friday night marks the official beginning of the 2008-09 season and the beginning of the Melissa McFerrin era when the University of Memphis women's basketball team welcomes the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks for a non-conference game that tips at 7:05 p.m.
Both teams are coming off identical 10-20 records from last season and both are coming off exhibition game losses. The Tigers dropped their exhibition game against DT-3, a team consisting of a pair of NAIA All-American guards and a pair of former BYU players, 73-66, while NAU fell to Fort Lewis, the No. 11 ranked women's NCAA Division II team in the country last season, 71-47.
The Tigers played a solid 30 minutes in their exhibition game, leading 41-36 at the half before hitting the proverbial wall with about eight minutes remaining in the game. DT-3 got loose for two threes at the 12:16 and 10:53 mark to finally erase what had been built up to a 10-point Memphis lead. From there, the two teams traded leads nine more times before a pair of Memphis turnovers went to the other end for a pair of DT-3 layups with 5:14 remaining in the game. DT-3 hit another triple with 1:52 remaining to thwart any Tiger comeback and to seal the victory.
Paris Leonard led Memphis with 17 points, but was 8-for-20 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. Ashley Thornton added a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while junior college transfer Tehani Goldsmith added 11 points and four assists in 37 minutes of play from the point. Freshman Ramses Lonlack was in the Tigers' starting line-up and made the fourth Tiger starter to score double-digits, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds, including four offensive in her first action in a Memphis uniform.
NAU was playing its game against Fort Lewis with a short bench of nine players. Gone from the game was starting point guard, and school career assist leader Sade Cunningham, who sat out the game to avoid aggravating an injury. Without their starting point guard, the Lumberjacks had trouble getting their offense going, scoring just 17 points in the first half, while Fort Lewis led 44-17 at the break. Senior guard Janelle Matthews tried to get her teammates going, scoring 13 points, the lone Lumberjack to hit double-digits, while leading the team with five assists. Fort Lewis out-rebounded NAU 37-26 and had 19 steals that they converted to 25 points on the other end.
The 7 p.m. (CT) game can be heard on WUMR, 91.7 FM in Memphis. Fans outside of the Memphis listening area can watching streaming video of the game with a subscription to the All-Access package from www.gotigersgo.com. A monthly subscription costs $9.95 and includes all Tiger audio and video for the month, including all other Memphis sports teams.
About Northern Arizona
The Lumberjacks were 10-20 last season, as was Memphis, and like the Tigers, dropped their one exhibition game, falling to Fort Lewis, the No. 11 ranked women's team in NCAA Division II last season, 71-47.
A member of the Big Sky Conference and hailing from Flagstaff, Ariz., the Lumberjacks are facing off against the Tigers for the first time in both schools histories.
Head Coach Laurie Kelly is in her sixth season at NAU and is trying to bounce back from a down season. Three seasons ago, Kelly led the team to its first-ever NCAA Tournament after the Lumberjacks captured their first-ever Big Sky Conference Tournament title. Kelly is the ninth head coach in the history of the program, but the first to lead NAU to two 20+ win seasons as the Lumberjacks matched the all-time record for wins in 2005-06 with 22 and then recorded 20 wins in 2006-07.
The Lumberjacks played without their school's career assist leader in senior Sade Cunningham in the exhibition game. Cunningham had 161 assists last season, and was the team's third-leading scorer with 9.5 ppg, and is the team's top returning scorer. She also connected on 18 three-point field goals and is a good free-throw shooter, hitting 80.5 percent of her shots from the line last year.
Also returning is senior Janelle Matthews, who averaged 8.5 points and 1.9 rebounds per game last season. Matthews led the Lumberjacks in three-point field goals made (42), connecting on 41.6 percent of her tries from beyond the arc. In NAU's exhibition game, Matthews the lone player to score double-digits, finishing with 13 points and a team-high five assists. NAU struggled from beyond the arc in the exhibition game, hitting just 2-of-13 from beyond the arc.
The Lumberjacks were also without a pair of freshman against Fort Lewis in their exhibition game, meaning they had just nine healthy bodies for the game. The short bench meant that both Matthews and sophomore forward Jenna Galloway both played 40 minutes in the exhibition game.
Season Openers
The Friday game against Northern Arizona will be the regular season opener for the Tigers and will be the first game of a busy November. Memphis is 19-16 in season openers so far in school history and is 3-0 in the first game of a new head coach's tenure.
Conference USA Unsure What's to Come
With three returning starters and eight letterwinner, but with an entirely new coaching staff, the remainder of the league coaches are not quite sure what they are in for and as such, have picked Memphis to finish 11th in the league in the pre-season coaches' poll.
Memphis was picked to finish 12th last season in the pre-season poll, and ended up finishing tied for sixth.
New Faces on the Sidelines
For just the fourth time since the women's basketball program was reinstated in 1972-73, the Tigers have a new face on the sideline. Melissa McFerrin was hired on April 18, 2008. McFerrin, who was the 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year, brings a 50-70 overall record with her to the Tiger program.
She is the program's fourth head coach in the modern era (her complete bio is on page 4 of the notes). She hired an entirely new staff to join her on the sidelines. Danielle O'Banion joins the program after playing at Boston College and coaching a Final Four Minnesota squad. Tempie Brown, a former Big 10 honorable mention player at Michigan, joined the team after spending the past four seasons at Northwestern University in Chicago, while Michael Wholey was McFerrin's first hire at Memphis. Wholey was an assistant coach under McFerrin at American University last season. Tony Martin rounds out the new staff as the Director of Basketball Operations, after spending the past seven seasons working the AAA Memphis Redbirds team in operations.
Some Early Season Home-Cookin'
Memphis will play seven of its first nine regular games in the Bluff City to start the 2008-09 season. After a Nov. 7th exhibition game, the team will open against Northern Arizona on Nov. 14th.
The Tigers will alternate home and away games through their first four games, as the second game of the year will be a non-conference trip up I-40 to face Belmont in Nashville. Memphis then returns home to host Louisiana Tech before another bus trip, this one just 30 minutes down the road to Ole Miss on Nov. 21st.
Debate This!
Memphis' first two road games follow the same trail as the first two presidential debates of 2008. Memphis will play at Ole Miss (host of the first debate) on Nov. 21st, after having played its season road opener at Belmont (host of the second debate and the first-ever presidential debate in the state of Tennessee), Nov. 16th. The game at Belmont will be played in the exact same building as the second presidential debate.
Leonard Looking for a Grand
Senior guard Paris Leonard comes in to her fourth season in a Memphis uniform with 884 points, just 116 shy of becoming the 19th player in Memphis history to score 1,000 or more points in her career. Leonard already ranks in the career top 10 in three-point field goals attempted (317) and made (101). She is just 48 steals shy of breaking in to the career top 10 in that category as well.
Thornton Also Looking to Move Into Career Top 10
Senior Ashley Thornton is also looking to move in to the career top 10. In just her third season in a Tiger uniform, Thornton already has 458 career rebounds. If she can wrangle 212 rebounds this season (a total she has passed in each of her first two seasons), she could move in to the career top 10. The 10th-place spot on the list now is 670 rebounds for four-year player Diane Gray (1988-1992).
Jackson Posts Single Season Top 10 Performance in Just Half a Season
Senior center Jessica Jackson capped her first half of a season in a Memphis uniform with 32 blocked shots, the 10th-best single season performance in school history. What made that feat even more impressive is the Memphis native had to sit out the first semester games due to NCAA transfer rules and was only able to play in 23 games.
Bullard Hands out a Century-Mark of Assists
Junior point guard LaToya Bullard handed out 127 assists in her sophomore season, despite only being able to play in 22 games. Bullard, like Jackson, sat out the first semester games due to NCAA transfer rules, and missed the Houston game due to illness. The 100 assists was the first time since Tamika Butler passed the 100-assist mark in 2005-06.
Bullard also averaged 10.0 ppg, including her second career 20-point night in the Conference USA tournament against Tulsa. The 27 points pushed her over 200 for her career through just 22 games.
The 5.77 assist per game average currently ranks second in the Memphis career record book for Bullard with two years of eligibility remaining.
Double-Up
Five different Tigers posted double-doubles last season. Ashley Thornton had four double-doubles last year, improving her to eight for her career. Aroha Jennings had one double-double to finish with three over her two-year career, while Paris Leonard used a 15 point, 10-rebound game to get her second career double-double. Jessica Jackson got her first two career double-doubles last year, while LaToya Bullard had 13 points and 12 assists in a loss to UCF to end the regular season last year for her first career double-double.
2007-08 Double-Doubles (#) Career Double-Doubles
Ashley Thornton (4) 8
Aroha Jennings (1) 3
Paris Leonard (1) 3
Jessica Jackson (2) 2
LaToya Bullard (1) 1
Winchell For Three!
Alex Winchell capped her freshman campaign as the only freshman to play in all 30 games. She also knocked down 30 three-point field goals, the sixth-best single season total for any Memphis freshman. The 30 triples was one better than the mark set by former teammate Alysse Davis and just two shy of breaking into the single season top five in the freshman single season record book.
The 97 three-point field goal attempts was the fourth-most attempts in the freshman records. Current teammate Paris Leonard holds the freshman record for three-point field goals attempted in a season with 119.
Winchell also ranked 10th in single-season assists in the freshman records, finishing with 59 assists.
100 League Victories
Memphis closed last season with seven Conference USA victories. The Feb. 28th win against Southern Miss was the program's 100th league victory, making the Tigers' the third-winningest program in league history. Only Tulane (120) and Louisville (103) have more C-USA victories than the Memphis Tigers.
All-Time Victories in C-USA Play
Tulane ( 1995-present): 120
Louisville (1995-2005): 103
Memphis (1995-present): 100
DePaul (1995-2005): 94
Marquette (1995-2005): 92
UAB (1995-present): 88
Southern Miss (1995-present): 87
Cincinnati (1995-2005): 81
Houston (1995-present): 79
Charlotte (1995-2005): 58
USF (1995-2005): 46
East Carolina (2001-present): 44
Saint Louis (1995-2005): 44
TCU (2001-2005): 41
UTEP (2005-present): 32
SMU (2005-present): 30
Rice (2005-present): 27
Marshall (2005-present): 24
Tulsa (2005-present): 24
UCF (2005-present): 11
Memphis Gets a Tiger From Overseas
Aroha Jennings (2006-2008) was just the program's second native of New Zealand and capped her career among the top 40 in scoring, despite being here just two years. The international trend continues for Memphis as the team added its fifth-ever international player with the signing of freshman guard Ramses Lonlack. Lonlack had come to the U.S. from her native Cameroon and played 2 1/2 years of prep basketball before signing with the Tigers over the summer.
She is just the second player from the African continent for Memphis, following Nigeria's Charity Egenti (2002-2004). Lonlack played her prep ball in Massachusetts at Stoneleigh-Burnham School. There, she scored over 1,000 points in just 2 1/2 years, although she may draw Tiger fans' attention early for her defensive intensity.
Working on Their Strokes
The returning members of the women's basketball team will have some work to do at the free-throw line coming in to 2008-09. Of the eight returners, only two shot over 70 percent from the line last season -- Jessica Jackson (71.9) and Shae Seagraves (83.3). The Tigers' graduated Aroha Jennings, who is the second-leading free-throw percentage shooter in Memphis history, and Jessica Hall, both over 80 percent shooters from the stripe last year.
Best League Win Total in Four Years
Memphis' seven league victories in 2007-08 was the most C-USA wins since the 2003-04's nine victory squad.
Tigers on the Block
Memphis finished fifth in the league last year in blocks per game with 3.37 stuffs a night. A lot of that credit is due to Jessica Jackson (see note above) and also to sophomore Savannah Ellis. As a freshman, Ellis posted 18 blocked shots, which is the fourth-best single season mark of any Tiger freshman. Regina Street holds the freshman single season record with an incredible 68 blocked shots in her freshman season in 1981-82.
Working Her Way to the Line
Ashley Thornton earned herself a lot of trips to the free-throw line last season, partly due to her work on the glass. Her 86 made free-throws was the 8th-best single season mark in the junior record book, and her 129 attempts was the 8th-best single season total.
She capped the season with 87 offensive rebounds, the fifth-best single season total of any Tiger juniors, and her 129 defensive rebounds was sixth. In all, she had 215 total rebounds, the ninth-best mark of any player in her junior season with the Tigers.
