Nov. 21, 2009

Complete Game Notes in PDF Format

Just two weeks into the regular season and the University of Memphis women's basketball team will be playing their fourth game by hosting UT Martin, Sunday, at 2 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Memphis is looking to put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season after dropping the first two home games of the season, 78-74 to Indiana, and 69-59 to Murray State. In both games, the Tigers spotted their opponents a lead as big as 14 points in the first half, then spent the rest of the game trying dig their way out. Against Missouri, Memphis went down by as many as 20 two different times in the opening half, before going on a 21-6 run before the under 12 minute media time out in the second half to cut the Missouri lead to 47-45. Senior guard LaToya Bullard scored a season-high 15 points, including connecting on one free-throw to tie the game at 60-60 with 5:13 to play. Missouri answered back and tried to pull away, but Bullard again attato dig their way out of trouble. The Tigers managed to pull back to even against Indiana, and took a lead with just under four minutes to play, but could not get the defensive stops they needed at the end of the game to put it out of reach.

On the road at Missouri, the first half deficit trend appeared agaicked the lane, pushing Memphis back in front 73-72 with 38 seconds to play. But Mizzou was not done, hitting a pair of free-throws, retaking the lead, 74-73.

But sophomore guard Brittany Carter came down the court and hit a jumper just outside the lane, putting Memphis back in front 75-74. Mizzou called a time out and got their play set, and the result was a loose ball that appeared to go off a Missouri player from the Memphis end of the floor, but which the officials said had gone off a Memphis player, giving Missouri the ball back with 3.1 seconds to play. But Memphis had Mizzou's in-bounds play defended and Missouri could only launch a crazy layup attempt that hit the bottom of the backboard, careening long, where a trio of Memphis players tracked it down to preserve Memphis' first win of the season.

Carter's 30 points was a career-high and was the first time since 2005 that a Tiger has scored 30 or more points in a game. Bullard finished with a season-high 15 points, while Winchell finished with nine points, all from three-point range, and Chatia Kelsey added eight points.

UT Martin comes in to just its second game under new head coach Kevin McMillian. McMillian, a former assistant at Middle Tennessee the past two seasons, was hired to take over the Skyhawk program over the summer. A former 17-year high school coach, McMillian will call on all his teaching skills this seaon with a roster that consists of two juniors, three sophomores, one redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. Against Belmont on Wednesday night, the Skyhawks keyed on stopping the A-Sun's reining player of the week, holding Amber Rockwell to just three points. Skyhawk forward Jessica Pace, one of the five true freshmen on the roster, scored 18 points in her first collegiate game, while junior college transfer Darnisha Lyles added 11 rebounds, nine points and a team-high three steals in the 56-46 loss.

The Series History
This is the 29th meeting between Memphis and UT Martin and the Tigers lead the overall series 25-3. But UT Martin had the last laugh in this series history, snapping a 17-game Tiger winning streak with a 69-60 win over Memphis at FedExForum in the 2006-07 season. There is not a player remaining on either roster that played in that last meeting.

Still Looking for a Home Win
Memphis won four of its 12 games last year on the road, and after starting out 5-0 at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, went just 1-6 in the Elma Roane during the rest of the schedule (1-9 including FedExForum games). Memphis is off to an 0-2 start at home this year (0-1 at FEF and 0-1 at the Fieldhouse) and is looking to turn its record around Sunday.

The last time Memphis lost three straight home games to open the season was during the 1990-91 season, a feat the current roster hopes to not match on Sunday afternoon.

Carter Etching Her Name in the Record Books in Her Third Career Game
In just her third career game at Memphis, sophomore guard Brittany Carter made a mark with her 30-point night at Missouri. That marked just the first time since Nov. 26, 2005 that a Memphis player had scored 30 points in a game. Tamika Butler was the last Tiger to score 30, in a loss to Clemson in the championship game of the Lady Tiger Classic.

Carter's 30 points also ties for 10th in the Memphis sophomore record book. Her game tied for 10th all-time in points, again tying with Tamika Butler, who scored 30 points in a road game at Austin Peay State on Dec. 3, 2003.

Winchell Finds Her Stroke
You knew it was just a matter of time before junior guard Alex Winchell found her stroke from three-point range. Against Missouri, Winchell was 3-for-4 from three-point range, and her back-to-back threes cut a 17 point Memphis deficit to an 11 point deficit with 17:09 to play in the second half. Her third three with 7:43 remaining cut the Memphis deficit to just one, at 55-54 down.

Her nine points at Missouri on Wednesday night also pushed her to the 400 point mark for her Tiger career. The Atlanta, Ga., native has played in 63 career games and averages 6.3 points per game for her career. She has also hit 80 career threes, and is trying to become just the seventh Tiger in school history to connect on 100 or more three-point field goals. Winchell's 80 threes currently ranks her seventh in the school record book for career threes.

Kelsey Providing Some Sparks
Chatia Kelsey continues to have an impressive start to her collegiate career. The freshman from Harvest, Ala., leads Memphis in field goal percentage, shooting 77.8 percent from the floor, getting a lot of those buckets in transition. Against Missouri, she played 17 minutes, was 3-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 in her first two collegiate attempts from the free-throw line, and played defense on the Missouri ball-handlers while spelling starting guard Ramses Lonlack.

Bullard Finding Role in McFerrin's Offense
It's a little deceiving to look at the Tiger roster and see two seniors. Senior Tehani Goldsmith's playing career is done due to health issues, and LaToya Bullard had played in just two semesters of college basketball heading in to this season.

Heading in to the Missouri game, Bullard was leading the team in steals, but was still not impacting as much as expected in the scoring column. But that changed with the Missouri game, as the redshirt senior scored a season-high 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting. She also led the team with four assists and two steals.

A Busy Week
Memphis has had its longest preparation stretch between games of the season coming in to Sunday's game. The Tigers played three games in six days, and have had three days of practice coming in to the UT Martin game.

Long Break Between Home Games
Following Sunday's UT Martin game, the Tigers won't be back at home until Dec. 18th when they host Ole Miss. In between now and then, the team will travel to the Northwest by playing at a tournament in Seattle, to the Southeast, by playing at Florida International and to the Gulf Coast by playing at South Alabama. The four-game road swing is the longest of the season for Memphis and will be followed by the student-athletes final exams from Dec. 11th-Dec. 17th.

Ellis To Top Five in Blocked Shots
Junior center Savannah Ellis leapfrogged all the way to the career top five in blocked shot with her pair of blocks against Murray State. She is now fifth with 58 blocks, but will have a ways to go before she moves any higher on the charts. Damita Shazier (1987-89) is fourth with 72 blocks, 14 away from Ellis' mark.