Feb. 13, 2008

Complete Game Notes in PDF Format

The University of Memphis women's basketball team (7-16, 4-6 C-USA) will wrap up a three-game road swing at SMU, Thursday. SMU has won three straight games, including road wins at Rice and Houston last weekend to move to 17-6 on the season and 7-3 in league play.

The Mustangs have won seven of their last nine games, falling to Tulsa, 70-68, and in overtime to league-leading UTEP, 69-64. An experienced roster returns for head coach Rhonda Rompola, including five seniors and five sophomores who saw extensive playing time last season as freshmen.

Up front, senior center Janielle Dodds leads SMU with 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. A second team, all-Conference USA honoree last season, Dodds is able to continue her scoring prowess thanks to the emergence of sophomore Delisha Wills. Wills, who averages 12.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, gives Dodds someone to look to when defenses key on just one post player. Wills is second on the team with 34 steals and leads the Mustangs with 21 blocks so far this year.

In the backcourt, guard Jillian Samuels, senior guard Sharee Shepherd and senior guard Katie Cobb have handled a majority of the ball-handling duties so far this year. Samuels ranks third on the team with 9.7 points per game and has hit a team-high 52 threes on the seaosn, while Shepherd averages 7.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Cobb figures in to the backcourt to the tune of 7.5 points per game and a team-high 59 assists.

Memphis will counter with a much-younger roster, with just one senior, junior college transfer Aroha Jennings. But it is the underclassmen who are leading the offense, with redshirt junior Jessica Hall leading the team with 12.9 points per game, while junior Paris Leonard, the most senior member of the Memphis roster, adds 11.8 ppg. Ashley Thornton, another transfer last season who is in her second season in a Memphis uniform, is the third Lady Tiger averaging double-digit points, averaging 10.2 ppg and leading the team with 7.2 rebounds. New to the Memphis roster this semester, Latoya Bullard is fourth on the team in scoring with 9.8 ppg and leads the offense with 70 assists through 15 games.

Memphis has gone 2-1 in its last three games and used a 78-68 win at UCF to even its C-USA road record (2-3) with its C-USA home record (2-3). The Lady Tigers knocked down a season-high nine triples in the win at UCF after hitting just a combined three field goals from beyond the arc in the previous two games.

The meeting between Memphis and SMU will be the only one of the regular season as both teams play in different divisions in C-USA. Memphis will return home for one game, Sunday, against Tulsa, before embarking on a two-game road swing through Marshall and ECU next week.

Memphis vs. SMU
This is the fourth meeting between Memphis and SMU and the Mustangs lead the overall series, 2-1, including both previous games as members of Conference USA. This will be Memphis' third-ever trip to SMU, as Memphis fell 67-45 to the Mustangs in SMU's first year in C-USA, then fell to Marshall in the first round of the Conference USA tournament that was held at SMU later that same season. SMU won the one regular season meeting between the two teams last year, 97-59, in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Leonard Moves to Top 25 in Career Scoring
Paris Leonard used an 18-point effort in the win at UCF to break in to the top 25 in career scoring in the Memphis record books, Saturday. Heading in to the SMU game, Leonard now has 807 career points, meaning she passed current assistant coach Jennifer Sullivan's mark of 800 points, which had been the 25th-best effort in school history. Leonard needs 31 more points to tie LaShanya Garner (1990-94) for the 24th spot on the all-time scoring charts.

The 18-point effort at UCF game after a scoreless outing at Southern Miss. The scoreless performance was the third of the season for Leonard and just the fourth of her Memphis career.

Hall Scores Over 20 For Second Straight Game
Jessica Hall drew a significant home-state crowd to the Lady Tigers game at UCF Saturday. Hall, who scored 22 points at Southern Miss, then scored 21 points at UCF. She was 16-for-30 (53.3) in the last two games. That marked the first time Hall has scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games in her career and was her fourth career 20 point plus night in her career. She has now scored double-digit points in seven of eight games and in the last five straight games.

Hall now needs just 84 more points to pass the 500-career point mark. To date, she has played in 52 career games.

Bullard 30 Assists From 100
Despite being able to play only the second semester due to NCAA transfer rules, sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard is just 30 assists shy of the 100-assist mark this season. Bullard averaged 5.5 assists per game last weekend at USM and UCF, and if she could stay on that pace, she would hit the 100-assist mark before the conference tournament Mar. 6-9th.

Bullard's scoring average has dropped as of late, scoring single digits in the last four games, not including the Houston game, which she missed due to illness.

Jennings 36 Points From 600
Aroha Jennings was one of two starters to go scoreless in the game at Southern Miss, but bounced back with nine points in the win at UCF. She now has 564 points heading in to her 55th career game at SMU.

Jennings is also a player Memphis opponents might want to stop sending to the free-throw line as she has hit 13 straight attempts from the line over the last four games.

Jackson Block Streak Snapped and Restarted
Center Jessica Jackson had her five-game streak with a blocked shot snapped at Southern Miss, where she finished wth six points and no rebounds. The lack of a rebound also snapped a 14-game streak for Jackson in which she had corralled a missed shot. Against UCF, Jackson got her blocking streak back on track with one block, but is still looking to get her rebounding streak restarted as she was held without a rebound against the league's best rebounding team.

Thorton Grabs Eight Career Double-Double
Ashley Thornton finished the UCF game with 15 points and 10 rebounds, marking her eighth career double-double and her fourth of the season. Over the last three games, she has averaged 9.3 rebounds per game and 12.3 points per game. Memphis has gone 2-1 in that stretch. She has had seven double-digit rebounding efforts this season and 13 in her two-year Lady Tiger career.

Leonard Grabs 100th Rebound
A prolific scorer at Memphis, Paris Leonard has also worked hard on the glass. After grabbing a combined 180 career rebounds in her first two seasons, she is already at the 100-rebound mark for her junior season following a four-rebound effort at UCF. A lot of those have been offensive rebounds (43), which have allowed her to push her career point total to 807 heading in to the SMU game.

Ellis Upping Her Field Goal Percentage....
As a true freshman, Savannah Ellis does not take a lot of shots, but when she has as of late, she's been very effective, sporting a 5-for-5 mark over the last three games and a 6-for-6 mark after two scoreless nights from the field against UAB and Houston. In games where Ellis scores from the field, Memphis is 5-8.

Thornton Passes 500-Point Mark
She fell just two points shy of doing it at Southern Miss, but junior Ashley Thornton passed the 500-career point mark with her 15 point night at UCF. She now has 513 career points heading in to the SMU game.

They're Free, We Might As Well Hit Them
Memphis has struggled a times from the free-throw line, missing opportunities to put points on the board with the clock stopped. But Memphis has gotten better in the last four games, going 51-for-69 (73.9 percent), including a 13-for-16 stretch at UCF.

About our 2007-08 Opponents
Memphis will play 29 regular season games, including seven of the first eight at home. Here are how our past and future opponents are doing:

Tennessee Tech (6-19, 5-10 OVC overall): Used free-throws to pick up OVC road win at Tennessee State, 60-51; hosts UT Martin, Thursday.
Southeastern Louisiana (9-13 overall, 3-6 SLC): Upset East Division-leading Lamar, 73-67; plays at West Division leader UT San Antonio, Thursday.
Creighton (13-8 overall, 6-4 MVC): Had four-game winning streak snapped, 72-52, by Drake; hosts Southern Illinois Thursday.
Tennessee State (11-14 overall, 8-8 OVC): Got a last second shot from Kendra Appling in a 70-69 win over Austin Peay; hosts Murray State, Thursday.
Louisiana Tech (11-12 overall, 5-5 WAC): Defeated Idaho, 80-59; plays at New Mexico State, Thursday.
Alabama A&M (9-11 overall, 7-4 SWAC): Completed a weekend sweep 58-46 at Mississippi Valley State; hosts Alabama State, Saturday.
Mississippi State (15-9 overall, 3-6 SEC): Defeated Florida, 83-71; plays at Ole Miss, Thursday.
Belmont (12-12 overall, 6-5 A-Sun): Upset top-seeded Jacksonville, 81-74; plays at USC Upstate Saturday.
Arkansas (17-7 overall, 2-7 SEC): Fell to Auburn, 73-68; plays at Florida, Sunday.
Loyola-Chicago (5-17 overall, 3-8 Horizon): Won on the road at Butler, 67-64; hosts UIC Saturday.
Florida Gulf Coast (14-7 overall, 9-2 A-Sun): Moved in to a share of first place in the A-Sun with a 71-66 win against East Tennessee State, 71-66; plays at Kennesaw State, Saturday.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff (7-15 overall, 5-6 SWAC): Lost to Alabama A&M, then beat Alabama State, 87-72; plays at Southern, Saturday.
Toledo (10-11 overall, 3-6 MAC): Lost third straight game, falling 60-45 at Buffalo; plays at Ohio, Wednesday.
UAB (10-12 overall, 6-3 C-USA): Fell 77-64 at Southern Miss; plays at Tulsa, Thursday.
Marshall (12-11 overall, 4-6 C-USA): Fell at Tulane, 61-56; hosts UCF Friday.
East Carolina (10-13, 4-6 C-USA): Fell to UTEP, 81-53; hosts Southern Miss Friday.
Tulane (13-10 overall, 3-7 C-USA): Won over Marshall, 61-56; hosts Rice Thursday.
UTEP (19-2 overall, 10-0 C-USA): Broke in to the national rankings in the AP poll following an 81-53 win over East Carolina; hosts Houston, Thursday.
Houston (14-10 overall, 8-2 C-USA): Had their eight-game winning streak snapped, 74-51 by SMU; plays at UTEP, Thursday.
Rice (9-15 overall, 2-8 C-USA): Handed Tulsa a 69-59 loss; plays at Tulane, Thursday.
Southern Miss (14-9 overall, 5-5 C-USA): Swept the weekend with a 77-64 win over UAB, plays at East Carolina, Thursday.
UCF (8-15 overall, 1-9 C-USA): Fell to Memphis 78-68; plays at Marshall, Friday.
SMU (17-4 overall, 7-1): Upended second-place Houston, 74-51; hosts Memphis Thursday.
Tulsa (9-14 overall, 5-5): Fell to Rice, 69-59; hosts UAB, Thursday.