University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
2-2
Minnesota
3-0
Women's Basketball Falls Short of Minnesota, 68-62
Nov 23, 2014 | Women's Basketball
Box Score | Quotes | Notes
MEMPHIS - For the second time in as many games, the University of Memphis women's basketball team (2-2) came away from a game against a Big 10 opponent thinking almost. Memphis led Minnesota (3-0), 31-29, and battled back from a 15-point deficit late in the contest to pull within four with 20 seconds in the contest, but fell short, 68-62, Sunday.
"I felt like our energy was a little low," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "Our foul trouble in the first half forced us to play Asia (Fuqua-Bey) and Mooriah (Rowser) all 20 minutes. I thought we played hard, but at moments when the game was on the line, our sense of urgency just wasn't there. That's the story with the last two games, we've gotten the shots we wanted, we just couldn't make them. That's what I'm still looking for from this team. I think we played reasonably well, but that's not good enough."
Memphis jumped out to quick lead, leading 12-2 after an Ariel Hearn three-point field goal. The Tigers caught a break when Minnesota's Rachel Banham picked up her second foul just three minutes in to the contest and had to go to the bench for the remainder of the first half. The Tigers tried to take advantage of the All-American candidate's absence, but 6-5 center Amanda Zahui B stood in the middle of the Gophers' zone, forcing the Tiger shooters out to the perimeter. Memphis shot 31.6 percent from the field in the opening half, and when the Tigers did venture in the paint, Zahui stood in for five first-half blocks before picking up her second foul and joining Banham on the bench.
"They weren't trapping us as much," McFerrin said. "They played their zone wide and we
With the two on the bench, Memphis could not capitalize, leading by just two at the break, 31-29.
"We had missed opportunities in the first half," McFerrin said. "We just wasted some possessions and rather than being up 10 or 12 in the first half, we were only up two and when (Rachel) Banham got back in the second half, she can make that gap by herself."
Memphis opened the second half with a three from Hearn, her third of a career-best seven made three-pointers on the night, but the Tigers lost Mikayla Bailey in transition and she answered with a three of her own. When Banham drove at the rim, she scored it and gave Minnesota its first lead of the night with 15:50 left in the opening half.
Brianna Wright hit one of two free-throws to tie the game back up, but Banham again got loose for two of her 14 second half points. Memphis managed to keep the deficit to single digits, but a 16-6 Gopher run pushed the deficit to double digits for Memphis after a pair of Zahui free throws, 57-47 with 6:36 left in the game.
The game seemed to be slipping away, as a 5-0 Gopher run was capped by a three from Banham at the top of the key. But Mooriah Rowser and Ariel Hearn found their stroke and powered Memphis on a 12-2 run of its own to pull Memphis to 64-59 down with 1:19 left after Hearn picked Mikayla Bailey's pocket and went coast-to-coast for the score.
But Memphis missed a pair of three-point field goals and had to foul the defensive rebounder in the last minute of the game. Minnesota went to the stripe and knocked down 4-for-4 attempts at the line to hold on for the 68-62 final score.
Hearn finished with a career-high 28 points, including a career-best seven three-point field goals made. The seven makes from beyond the arc tied the Memphis school record shared by Alex Winchell (Feb. 20, 2011) and LaTonya Johnson (Jan. 17, 1997). Rowser finished with 15 points for her fourth straight game in double-digit points. Both Asianna Fuqua-Bey and Brianna Wright added 13 rebounds apiece, including 10 offensive boards for Fuqua-Bey. That marked just the ninth time in Memphis history that a Tiger has posted double-digit offensive rebounds.
Shae Kelley led Minnesota with 20 points and eight rebounds. Mikayla Bailey added 15 points, while Rachel Banham scored all 14 of her points in the second half. Amanda Zahui rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Gophers with 12 points, adding seven rebounds and five blocked shots.
Memphis out-rebounded Minnesota 48-37, but gave up 19 points off 15 turnovers, while forcing just 14 Gopher turnovers in the loss.
Memphis goes back on the road to face Southern Illinois, Wednesday, at 6:05 p.m. The Tigers are next at home on Saturday when they host a 3-0 UALR team that already has road wins at LSU and Rice and a 61-48 win over Missouri State, the team the Tigers defeated in their season opener.
