Feb. 20, 2008

Game Notes

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Thundering Herd women's basketball team will wrap up the home portion of its schedule this weekend with a pair of Conference USA games against Memphis and UAB.

The action starts on Thursday when the Herd will welcome the Memphis Tigers to the Cam Henderson Center for a 7 p.m. game before facing UAB on Saturday at 5 p.m. Saturday's game will be the second game in a doubleheader with the men's team, who will face UCF at 2 p.m.

Marshall (13-13, 5-7 C-USA) enters Thursday's game after splitting a pair of home games last weekend. On Friday, the Herd downed UCF, 71-64, before falling to Southern Miss on Sunday by a score of 77-67.

Kizzy Hart had the top weekend for the Herd, averaging 20 points, 7.5 rebounds and two steals against the Knights and the Golden Eagles. She had a career night against UCF, registering career-highs in points (25), made free throws (10) and rebounds (10), culminating in the first double-double of her Marshall career. She followed that up with 15 points and five rebounds against Southern Miss.

In her first two starts of the season, sophomore Alix Barnette seemed to fit nicely into the role. She began the weekend with nine points, including a 7-of-7 performance from the free throw line to go along with five rebounds against UCF, playing a career-high 31 minutes. Barnette finished the weekend with a season-high 16 points against USM. She also had three assists and three rebounds against the Golden Eagles.

With Tynikki Crook and Meg Withrow out of the lineup, several players stepped up their games in admirable fashion last week. Chantelle Handy had a strong pair of games last weekend, averaging 8.5 points and 5.5 boards in two games while, in a season-high 28 minutes against UCF, senior Melody Hudson finished with seven rebounds and six points. Junior Casey Baker also helped the Herd in all facets of the game last week. Baker averaged 6.0 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 steals while playing 26 minutes per game.

Marshall is a perfect 6-0 in its all-time series against Memphis, while UAB's 79-64 overtime win evened its series with MU at three games apiece.

The final home stand of 2007-08 starts Thursday against Memphis, who comes to Huntington with a record of 8-17 and 5-7 in C-USA. The Tigers are coming off of a dominant 72-49 win over Tulsa at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. LaToya Bullard led Memphis with 15 points, eight assists and four steals in the win.

Bullard gave Marshall problems in the teams' first meeting of this season, scoring a game-high 15 points while grabbing five rebounds. Jessica Hall, who scored 14 in the first contest against the Herd, leads the Tigers, averaging 12.6 points per game.

On Saturday, the Herd will face off against Diamond Rogers and the UAB Blazers. Rogers enters the weekend as C-USA's leading scorer with 17.6 PPG, a full point per game better than second-ranked Pauline Love of Southern Miss. The Blazers depend heavily on Rogers, who leads the conference in minutes played, averaging 37.24 per game.

Rogers made her presence known in UAB's first game with the Herd, notching 20 points and 12 rebounds. That game saw Marshall claw its was back from a 12-point deficit early in the second half to force overtime, however, the Blazers outscored the Herd 21-6 in the extra period to take the win.

UAB enters the weekend with an overall record of 12-13 and is tied with Houston for the third spot in the conference with a record of 8-4. The Blazers are coming off of a 1-1 weekend that saw them grab a 78-74 double overtime win against Tulsa before falling to SMU, 84-51 on Sunday.

With the season wrapping up, several Marshall players are making a push into the record book. Sophomore Alyssa Hammond currently stands at 494 points, just six shy of 500 for her career. She is the leading career scorer for the Herd.

As far as single season records go, Kizzy Hart has already made an impact. She has connected on 43 treys this season, already the fifth best total in program history. Natal Rosko holds the record of 55, set in the 1994-95 season. Hart is on the verge of breaking another record currently held by Rosko, this one for three-pointers attempted. Hart has attempted 156 threes this year, just one behind Rosko's 157.

Casey Baker and Meagan Samis are also on the verge of entering the record book. Baker has recorded 81 steals thus far, already the No. 3 season in Herd history. Tracy Krueger recorded a Southern Conference record 122 steals in 1992-93 while Karla May is No. 2 with 91. With two more made three-pointers, Samis will be eligible to make the three-point percent list. She has hit 41.9% of her three-point attempts this season. That total would put her third on MU's all-time list. Cindy McCauley, who shot 43.3% beyond-the-arc in 1996-97, holds the current record.

Thursday's contest against Memphis is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip-off while Saturday's game against UAB will start at 5 p.m., or 30 minutes following the men's contest against UCF. Saturday's game will also mark Senior Day as Kizzy Hart, Melody Hudson and Meagan Samis will be recognized for their efforts while members of the Thundering Herd.