March 8, 2008

Box Score

Notes

Quotes

ORLANDO, Fla. - Led by 20 points from first team All-Conference USA performer Janielle Dodds and clutch shooting by guard Jillian Samuels, the second-seeded SMU Mustangs rallied to defeat No. 6 Marshall, 68-59, in Saturday's first semifinal game of the 2008 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship at the UCF Arena in Orlando, Fla.

Dodds led all scorers in the contest and knocked down four late free throws to help seal the victory.

Samuels finished with 12 points. None bigger than the six she racked up with two deep 3-pointers that tied the game with 6:11 remaining and gave her team the lead for good, 56-53, with 4:03 left to play. She also knocked down SMU's last two charities.

The Mustangs out-scored the Herd 43-24 in the second half and scored 29 points off of 21 Marshall turnovers in the contest. They also were able to knock down their last 10 free throws and shot 82 percent from the line for the game, compared to 74 percent for the Herd.

Brittany Gilliam also hit double figures for SMU with 10 points and added five assists and four rebounds.

Sharee Shepherd and Delisha Wills each tallied nine points, with Shepherd adding a team-high seven rebounds and a game-high six steals.

SMU's 16 steals as a team is the third most in C-USA Championship single-game history.

The Herd held a 35-25 lead at intermission, thanks to 11 points from yesterday's hero Kizzy Hart. Chantelle Handy also added eight points in the first stanza to help her team to the lead.

Marshall used a nice rebounding advantage to help them take control in the first half. They out-rebounded the Mustangs 23-14 and those boards led to a 9-2 advantage in second chance points.

Hart was held in check during the second half and finished with 13 points. Handy finished with 10, while Alyssa Hammon led her team with 12 points.

Freshman post Tynikki Crook ended the game with her third consecutive double-double after notching 10 points and 11 rebounds in the losing effort.

SMU is now 23-8. The 23 wins are the most in program history.

With the win, SMU advances to Sunday's C-USA Championship game at 3:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2. They will face the winner of Saturday's second semifinal game between No. 1 UTEP and No. 5 Southern Miss.

The championship game appearance will be the first for the Mustangs as a member of C-USA and its first overall since playing Fresno State for the 2003 WAC Championship.

SMU's last post season conference title came in 1999.