University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
13-13, 7-8
Tulane
20-7, 11-5
Cold Snap Costs Tigers Upset Opportunity on the Road
Feb 21, 2015 | Women's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS -Â Memphis (13-13, 7-8 American) went over five and a half minutes in the last minutes of the game without a point scored and could not pull off an upset in a 75-65 loss at Tulane (20-7, 11-5), Saturday.
"I'm proud of this team," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "I don't know that a lot of people thought we could come in here tonight and win, but we stood toe-to-toe with them for probably 34 minutes. We had one eight minute period on the first half where we didn't defend well, and we just didn't have a response when they hit those two big threes in the second half."
After trailing at the half 40-35, Memphis came out of the locker room and opened the half on a 5-0 run, tying the game at 40 with 18:46 to play, the first time in the game the score had been tied.
But it wouldn't be the last tie of the half as Memphis and Tulane would tie up a total of five times in the second half, the last one at 58-58 with 7:38 to play.
But the Green Wave would convert some layups in the paint and took advantage of some hard-fought offensive rebounds and pushed the lead to 64-60 with 5:37 to play.
That's when the Memphis offense went cold. After an Asianna Fuqua-Bey layup with 6:09 to lay, the Tigers did not put another point on the board until Ariel Hearn hit one of two free throws with 52 seconds left. That allowed the home team to fire up their crowd and burn out to a 12-0 run that pushed the lead open to double-digits at 73-60.
Ariel Hearn finished with 18 points for Memphis, while Brianna Wright added 12 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Wright also led Memphis with four steals in 24 minutes. Cheyenne Creighton, making her first collegiate start, finished with 10 points and four rebounds, her second straight double-digit outing.
Tulane was led by freshman Kolby Morgan on their senior night. Morgan finished with 22 points, including 4-for-8 shooting from three-point range. Adesuwa Ebomwonyi added 18 points, while Danielle Blagg finished with 13 points.
Memphis returns home to host Tulsa, Tuesday, at 7 p.m. in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
