Lady Tigers fall to SMU
Original Photo’s/ Article from gottigersgo.com
Fourteen first half turnovers and missed buckets in transition in the first half came back to haunt the University of Memphis women’s basketball team (13-16, 7-11 American) in a 60-53 loss to SMU (7-21, 3-14 American), Monday night.
“Disappointing loss on our home floor,” head coach Melissa McFerrin said. “We just didn’t get a contribution, other than Cheyenne Creighton, from our post players all night. We didn’t get the ball to the rim, we got blocked, we didn’t rebound, we got boxed out and just generally, I thought they were more physical than we were and I thought we could be the team that was more physical. Ariel had a rough first half, Mooriah was scoring some buckets, we just didn’t get anything from our post players, we got four points out of our two starting post players.”
The Tigers went down early after Morgan Bolton knocked down a triple to push SMU up 5-2, but that would be as big a lead as the Mustangs would have in the opening half, which was tied seven times before SMU got back-to-back buckets from Destynee Hives-McCray to hit the locker room up 28-24.
Memphis trailed by four despite a scoreless first half from leading scorer Ariel Hearn, who was 0-for-6 from the field and 0-for-4 from three in the first 20 minutes.
The Tigers tried to find some offensive balance to start the second half, starting freshman post Cheyenne Creighton, who had seven first half points, but again, it was a see-saw scoreboard through the opening eight minutes of the second half before Memphis seemed to right the ship.
After the game was tied for the 10th time, SMU took a lead off an Alicia Froling jumper, two of her 13 points for SMU. Ariel Hearn answered with a three on the other end in transition off an assist from Brea Elmore and Brianna Wright scored a layup off a defensive rebound on the other end to put the “Tigers up 41-38 with 9:59 to play.
But Memphis missed a shot in transition off an Elmore defensive rebound and Hearn picked up a foul and turned the ball over. Gabrielle Wilkins, who Hearn fouled, went to the line and hit both and Raven Short drained a three from the right shoulder to put SMU back up 43-41.
That triple from Wilkins was the first of three in a row in the game as Hearn answered back for a 44-43 Tiger lead at 8:27, but on the next trip down the floor, Wilkins went right back to the same spot and drained another triple, putting SMU up 46-44 and starting a 9-1 SMU run that quickly blew the Mustang lead to 10 at 55-44 with 5:12 to play. In that three minute stretch, the Tigers got out-rebounded 5-1 and missed three layups, two jumpers, including a three, and went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line.
Hearn would hit a three and a mid-lane jumper to cut the deficit to five at 55-50, but Hives-McCray drove right at the rim for a lay-in and Morgan Bolton went 3 for 5 down the stretch to ice the win for SMU, 60-53. Mooriah Rowser led Memphis with 18 points, while Hearn added 14 on 5-for-18 shooting. Hearn dished out seven assists to lead all players, but also had five turnovers in 39 minutes before fouling out.
SMU had four players in double figures, led by 13 each from Bolton and Alicia Foling. Froling just missed a double-double off the bench, leading SMU with nine rebounds. Hives-McCray added 12 points, while Gabrielle Wilkins finished with 11.
The same two teams will meet again on Friday, at 5 p.m. (CT) in Uncasville, Conn., in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference championship tournament. That game will be carried on ESPN3.com.