University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
1-0
Missouri State
0-1
Women's Basketball Opens Season With 79-63 Win
Nov 14, 2014 | Women's Basketball
MEMPHIS - Missouri State converted three straight Memphis turnovers to points to cut what had been a 10-point lead to three at 63-60 with 3:51 left in the game when sophomore guard Taylor Williams drained a corner three and was fouled to help Memphis seize back the momentum in a 79-63 season-opening win over Missouri State (0-1), Friday in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. Williams finished with a career-high 16 points in the non-conference win.
"We gave up a lot of penetration during that time," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "Then we had a bad close out, then middle penetration; the quest continues to try to find a collective effort on the defensive end of the floor and that's our challenge. I really feel like we've got a more balanced team scoring-wise, but do we have a team that's going to be committed to guarding someone every night? That's a personality that we have to find."
Williams hit the and-one after the timeout to start a 16-2 run to close out the season-opening win and dodge the Bears' run that had threatened to put Memphis behind for the first time in the game in the waning minutes of the game.
"That was a huge three from Taylor," Mooriah Rowser said. "Taylor probably had the best game of any of us tonight. That three just gave us some confidence in our offense again and helped us get back on track."
Ariel Hearn and Rowser both added threes of their own on subsequent trips after the Williams' three. In total, four Tigers scored double-digit points in the win, led by Rowser's 21 points. Williams and Hearn each added 16 points and Brianna Wright added a double-double of 11 points and 16 rebounds in the win.
"I was really pleased with Brianna Wright," McFerrin said. "I felt like she played fatigued tonight. I bet there's not a game in her career where she played 34 minutes, but we got in to foul trouble. You could see it on her, but she gutted it through and I felt like every time the ball went in the air, she was really making an effort to make sure she got a rebound. I thought she had a great assist late to Taylor Williams cutting down the lane. "
It is the first double-double of Wright's Tiger career and was Rowser's fourth 20-point night of her career.
Memphis got out to a lead early as a pair of Hearn three-point field goals followed a Rowser jumper to open the game. The second of Hearn's triples pushed her past the 1,000 career point mark, making the Arlington graduate the 23rd player in Memphis history to score 1,000 or more career points. A three from Williams pushed the Tiger lead to double-digits, at 13-2, but then the Memphis bench came in to play as Hearn and Asianna Fuqua-Bey each picked up a pair of fouls. Both Hearn and Fuqua-Bey played just eight minutes in the opening stanza.
"I thought Taylor played great tonight," McFerrin said. "We got in foul trouble and were a little shorter on the bench. Taylor played like an upperclassman tonight. She hit great shots, but she also didn't settle for shots. It shows on the stat sheet that she only had three rebounds, but I felt like on every shot she was crashing the boards and just really focusing in on what she needs to do to be an all-around player."
Kenzie Williams led Missouri State in scoring with 21 points, including a 13-for-15 stretch at the free-throw line. She also led the Bears with seven rebounds and four steals.
Memphis has a short prep time for its next game, as the Tigers host Samford, Sunday, at 4 p.m.
