Feb. 7, 2008
Complete Box Score in PDF Format 
Box Score
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - -
The University of Memphis women's basketball team (6-16, 3-6 C-USA) shot just 25 percent in the second half in a 76-56 loss at Southern Miss Thursday night.
"We fought hard, but we knew if they went with the two big girls inside that that was tough to defend and tough to score against, and that's what Southern Miss did in the second half," Head Coach Blair Savage-Lansden said.
Memphis led at the half, using a 18-5 run to come back from an 11-point deficit to take a 37-35 lead thanks to a pair of buckets and one from Ashley Thornton and a pair of Jessica Hall free-throws. The Memphis lead came after USM pounded 22 of their first half points in from the paint, but as Memphis switched defenses, it allowed the Lady Tigers to hold the Golden Eagles to just two field goals in the last four minutes of the opening half.
But USM opened the second half working the ball back inside, getting 10 of their first 16 points in the paint to retake the lead and lead 51-44 at the 12:43 mark. While the Golden Eagles were working the ball inside to an offense which had both post players (6-4 Stephanie Helgeson and 6-2 senior center Liz Biland), Memphis struggled getting the ball inside and managed just two field goals from a slashing Ashley Thornton to snap an almost four minute scoreless streak for the Lady Tigers. Thornton scored seven straight points to pull Memphis 52-46 down before USM got four straight points from Pauline Love to stretch back out to 57-48 up with 9:27 to play. A pair of Helgeson layups inside pushed the deficit to 63-53 with 7:41 to play.
Memphis was led in scoring by Jessica Hall, who finished with a career-high 22 points, while Ashley Thornton finished with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting.
The Lady Tigers will continue their three-game road swing with a Saturday contest at UCF. That game will be played at 5 p.m. (4 p.m. CT) and can be heard on WUMR, 91.7 FM in Memphis. Fans outside the WUMR listening area can log in to the All-Access package to listen to the same WUMR feed which will be provided by Jeff Brightwell on the play-by-play.
