Tigers Women's Basketball Falls To Kansas Thursday

Thursday, November 19

Lawrence, Kan.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

2-1

Kansas

2-0

Memphis

Kansas

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Nov 19, 2015 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Wright has 15 points, career-high six steals in 72-63 setback.

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Ariel Hearn and Brianna Wright led the University of Memphis women's basketball team with 15 points each, but it wasn't enough as the Tigers dropped their first game of 2015-16 with a 72-63 road loss at Kansas Thursday. Memphis falls to 2-1, while Kansas improves to 2-0.

The Tigers look to get back on the winning track Sunday, Nov. 22 when they host Georgetown in a 2 p.m. (CT) contest at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The game is Military Appreciation Day.

Asianna Fuqua-Bey added 12 points. Wright also had a career-high six steals, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Hearn dished out four assists and moved into the top-10 on the Memphis career assists list. She is in the No. 10 spot with 328 career assists. In her homecoming game, Taylor Williams, a Kansas City, Kan., native pulled down a team-high seven boards.

Kylee Kopatich led Kansas with 14 points. Jada Brown and Lauren Aldridge added 10 points each. Tyler Johnson grabbed a game-high 10 boards.

As in the first half, Kansas built leads, and Memphis came back. The Jayhawks, however, had a final answer on each occasion. Four different times the Tigers pulled to within two or fewer points in the second half, but did not gain the lead. Kansas held the lead throughout the contest.

The Tigers last pulled to within two at 60-58 on a Fuqua-Bey jumper with 6:42 on the clock. The Jayhawks, though, responded with an 11-5 run over the next six minutes to claim a 71-63 lead and put the game out of reach.

Memphis had its chances to get closer late in the fourth period, but did not convert on its opportunities.

The story of the entire first half was Kansas pulls away only to see Memphis come back. The latest sequence of the first half was in the second period's final 2:31. Kansas' Kopatich hit a trey to give Kansas a 36-27 lead with 2:31 left. The Tigers, though, closed the quarter with a 10-2 run to cut the Jayhawks advantage to one at 38-37 at half. Hearn scored eight of Memphis' 10 points, including two deep three-pointers, in the run. Fuqua-Bey accounted for the other basket in the spurt.

Earlier in the second period, Kansas jumped out to a 26-17 lead, and Memphis fought back. An Aldridge three-pointer gave Kansas a 26-17 advantage at the 9:44 mark of the second period, but four different Tigers scored a basket in an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 26-25 with 6:13 on the clock.

In the first quarter, Kansas built a 17-9 lead in the game's first 7:30. The Tigers, though, did not go away. An 8-0 Memphis run powered by Hearn's first five points of the game tied the contest with :52 left in the first period. The Jayhawks finished the period to a 6-0 spurt to take a 23-17 lead into the second quarter.

Memphis shot 39.7 percent from the field and 81.3 percent from the free throw line (13-of-16). The Jayhawks shot 50 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from the arc. Kansas hit 44.4 percent from the foul line (8-of-18).

The Jayhawks out-rebounded Memphis 43-29. The Tigers forced 19 Kansas turnovers, including 16 steals.