University of Memphis Athletics
Tiger Bench Powers @MemphisWBKB Past UCF, 65-49
Feb 18, 2015 | Women's Basketball
The University of Memphis women's basketball team (13-12, 7-7 American) got 27 points from its bench in a 65-49 win over visiting UCF (8-18, 4-11 American), Wednesday night. Freshman post Cheyenne Creighton led Memphis with a career-high 12 points, while Taylor Williams and Ariel Hearn each added 11 points in the win.
"We were having trouble getting something going inside early on," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "And I think Cheyenne Creighton did a good job of helping us get that going. Asianna Fuqua-Bey and Brianna Wright got good stuff early, but it was really Creighton that got it going inside. She did a nice job on the glass and helped get their post players in foul trouble too."
Memphis started off with a quick 8-2 lead thanks to a pair of buckets from Creighton. A steal and jumper from Ariel Hearn pushed the lead to double-digits at 15-4 with 12:22 to play in the opening half and Memphis spread the points around while pushing the first half lead to as many as 19 behind eight first half points from Creighton, six from Courtney Powell and five apiece from Williams and Hearn.
"I thought Taylor Williams also played well tonight," McFerrin said. "She was real aggressive on the glass, she did a good job in transition and fed the posts a couple of times. I thought she had a really nice night for us."
Williams would knock down two free-throws in the opening half's waning minutes and helped Memphis to the locker room up 33-15.
"We haven't played in eight days, so one thing I was worried about was being a little lackadaisical. Our practices have been short, we have had some intense practices, but we had practices that have been a little lower in intensity and I did not want to start that way, so we started in a little different defensive scheme than we typically do and I thought our players really responded," McFerrin said.
That defensive strategy helped hold UCF to a 16.7 percent shooting clip, a season-low for any Tiger opponent this year. Memphis forced 14 first half turnovers and held a 16-1 points off the bench advantage against a short UCF lineup that was also missing head coach Joi Williams. Williams missed the game following a death in the family and did not make the trip to Memphis.
The game picked up in pace in the second half and Memphis stretched its lead to 23 off a Williams's layup with 16:54 to play. But as the pace stayed up and the lineups changed, the turnovers and fouls began to mount for Memphis and UCF used timely threes to cut the deficit to 14 at 48-34 with 9:03 to play.
But Hearn hit a mid-range jumper to answer the UCF run and Memphis turned it back up, pushing the game to the final 65-49 final score.
UCF out-rebounded Memphis 42-40, but the Tigers forced 22 turnovers in to 21 points and held a 27-4 points off the bench advantage in their seventh conference win of the season.
UCF was led by Fifi Ndour, who scored 13 points, adding six rebounds. Aliyah Gregory and Zykira Lewis each added 12 points in the loss. Stephanie Taylor led UCF with nine rebounds off the bench while the Knights battled foul trouble for starting post Brittni Montgomery.
Memphis got 12 points from Creighton on 6-for-13 shooting, while Williams and Hearn each scored 11 points. Williams led the team with seven rebounds and four assists, adding three steals in 38 minutes of play.
The Tigers go on the road, Saturday, to face one of two conference opponents they face just once in the American Athletic Conference slate. The Tigers will play at Tulane, Saturday, at 2 p.m. (CT). That game will be carried on The American Digital Network.
