Dec. 12, 2008

Complete Game Notes in PDF Format

The University of Memphis women's basketball team (5-4) is carrying a two-game losing streak and faces the unenviable task of trying to snap that skid on the road against an unbeaten Mississippi State squad (6-0), Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Tigers never got going against South Alabama in a 66-49 loss that dropped Memphis to 5-4 on the season and gave the Tigers back-to-back losses for the first time this season. Sophomore post Shekeira Copeland finished with a career-high 15 points, and just missing her first career double-double with nine rebounds, including five offensive boards.

But USA, who barely out-rebounded Memphis 44-43, got 20 of their boards under the offensive glass, sticking back 17 second chance points and scoring 40 of their 66 points in the paint to hand Memphis its seventh straight loss in FedExForum in as many tries.

The Tigers, who are 5-0 in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse this season, will have to snap the skid away from the friendly confines of their home gym with the next four games being either on the road or neutral site games. Memphis has not won a non-conference road game since then-freshman Paris Leonard hit the game-winning bucket in a 76-74 win at Lipscomb on Nov. 29th of 2005. Leonard is now in her senior season and is looking to bounce back from a tough shooting night, after finishing with 11 points, seven under her season average, against South Alabama.

This is the 32nd meeting between the Tigers and Mississippi State, but will be Memphis' first appearance in Starkville since the 2001-02 season. Memphis is 5-9 all-time in games in Starkville and is on a four-game losing streak in games played at MSU. The Tigers' last win in Starkville was a 74-60 victory in 1993-94.

Mississippi State returns 10 letterwinners and four starters from last year's 16-15 squad. The Bulldogs advanced to the WNIT, falling to fellow C-USA foe Southern Miss, 62-61, in the first round.

The Bulldogs are 6-0 on the season, and are holding the opposition to just 27.9 percent from the field, while getting out in transition to score 45.9 percent from the floor. The MSU defense already has 93 steals on the season (15.5/game), and has forced 147 opponent turnovers (24.5/game), a telling statistic for a Tiger team that committed 26 turnovers Thursday night against South Alabama.

Junior college transfer Armelie Lumanu leads MSU with 16.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, while fellow junior college teammate Chanel Mokango adds 12. 3 points and 6.0 rebounds a night, and leads the team with 19 blocked shots in just six games. Ten different Bulldogs have connected on a shot from three-point range already this year, led by eight triples from junior guard Alexis Rack. Rack also leads the offense with 37 assists and is one of four Bulldogs with double-digit steals already this season.

About Mississippi State
Mississippi State is off to a quick 6-0 start, with a 5-0 mark so far at home this season. The Bulldogs are being led by a pair of junior college transfers from Southeastern Illinois College, a program that produced three different Bulldogs on this year's squad, all from the Congo. Junior guard Armelie Lumanu leads the team in scoring with 16.7 ppg and 6.8 rpg. Teammate Chanel Monkango, a 6-5 forward, is second with 12.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while adding a team-best 19 blocked shots already this season. The height advantage inside is forcing a lot of teams to shoot from the perimeter, pushing the Bulldogs' opponent's field goal percentage down to 27.9 through the first six games of the season.

MSU was a WNIT team last season, finishing with a 16-15 overall record at the end of the season after falling to fellow C-USA foe Southern Miss by one in the first round of the WNIT tournament.

MSU leads the all-time series with Memphis 19-12, including a 9-5 mark in games in Starkville. The Bulldogs have won the last three meetings between the two schools by an average of 24.3 points, including a 92-57 win at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse last season. Memphis' last win in the series was an 88-82 victory in 2000-2001.

Taking Care of the Basketball
Memphis has struggled with turnovers throughout the season to date. In the first nine games of the season, the team has had fewer than 20 turnovers just three times (Northern Arizona, Ohio, Stephen F. Austin). In the last two games, Memphis has gone over the 25 turnover mark with 27 against Arkansas and 26 against South Alabama. Arkansas got most of its turnovers out of full court pressure, while Memphis did a better job on the press break against South Alabama, but then turned the ball over in the half court offense.

Copeland Scores Career Night
Sophomore post Shekeira Copeland had a career-best night against South Alabama as one of the few Memphis sets that worked regularly was feeding Copeland the ball inside. The Wichita, Kan., native finished with 15 points, adding nine rebounds to just miss her first career double-double. Copeland was also 5-for-5 from the free-throw line and added a blocked shot.

Perimeter Defense Preparing for a Test
Ten different Bulldogs have connected on a three-point field goal so far this season. With so many different players willing to jack it up from beyond the arc, the Tiger perimeter defense better expect a test. But the defense has held up from beyond the arc in the last two games, giving up just eight triples in 49 tries (16.3 percent). Neither Arkansas (18.2) nor South Alabama (14.8) hit over 20 percent from beyond the arc, the first time this season Memphis has held the opposition to under 20 percent in back-to-back games. It marked only the third time this year that the defense has been that stingy.

Get on the Glass
Memphis is out-rebounding its opponents 42.7-38.9 despite usually being undersized against the opposition, which has already included two SEC foes. Unfortunately, a lot of those rebounds are coming on the offensive end, as the team is shooting just 37.2 percent from the field. Just 60.4 percent of Memphis' boards are coming on the defensive end, a stat that leads to second chance points for the opposition.

Thornton Adds Another Double-Double
Senior forward Ashley Thornton finished the South Alabama game with 10 points and 10 rebounds, for her fifth double-double of the season. Thornton has now has 13 career double-doubles, which ranks her tied for 8th all-time in the Tiger record book in that category. She shares that slot with former Tiger Melissa Abraham, who had 13 career double-doubles over a four-year career at Memphis. Thornton transferred to Memphis after starting her career at Birmingham Southern as a freshman. She left BSC when they moved to NCAA Division III the year after she was named to the Big South All-Freshman Team.

Stop! Thief!
Memphis ranks atop Conference USA in steals with 10.38/game, with a pair of Tigers ranked No. 1 and 2 in the league in steals. Senior Paris Leonard, who currently ranks second in the league in scoring, leads C-USA with 3.75 steals per game. Freshman Ramses Lonlack is right behind Leonard with 2.75 steals per game.

Leonard's league-best ranking in steals is also among the national leaders as she currently ranks 10th in the NCAA in steals per game in the latest national rankings (12/7/08).

Tigers Lose 2007-08 Starting Point Guard
The Tigers will be without junior point guard LaToya Bullard for the 2008-09 season after the Memphis native underwent season-ending surgery on Dec. 15th. Bullard hopes to be back for the 2009-2010 season.