Fourth Quarter Surge Falls Short For Women's Basketball

Sunday, November 13

Birmingham, Ala.

2:00 PM

University of Memphis

1-1

Samford

1-1

Memphis

Samford

Photo by: Michael Wade

Fourth Quarter Surge Falls Short For Women's Basketball

Nov 13, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Tigers drop road contest to Samford despite fourth quarter run

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis women's basketball team dropped the Sunday afternoon road contest at Samford by a score of 48-42 at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala. The setback puts the Tigers at 1-1 in the early season.

"I thought on the defensive end, we did a really nice job (holding Samford to 48 points)," said head coach Melissa McFerrin. "We weren't able to convert on the offensive end. We didn't catch the ball cleanly at times. I thought we missed some easy shots. As the game went down the stretch, we had every opportunity to make a play."

In the first possession for Memphis, Cheyenne Creighton put the Tigers on the board with a jumper in the left corner. Samford quickly answered with a three-pointer with over nine minutes remaining in the first quarter.

After each team got on the board, the defenses locked down on each other. A three-pointer as the quarter ended by Breigha Wilder-Cochran put the Tigers up, 9-8, after one.

In the second, Samford scored the first basket, a three-pointer, to take over the lead from the Tigers. The second quarter then brought a pair of ties before a Samford lay-up with 1:07 on the clock made it 18-15 at the half.

The Samford lead grew to as many as six in the third until the Tigers rattled off a 6-1 run including four points from Creighton. The Bulldogs answered, however, with a 9-2 run of their own to own a six-point lead after three.

Memphis made a run in the fourth quarter after experiencing a six-point deficit after three quarters. In the middle of the fourth, the Tigers produced an 8-0 run to cut the Samford lead to one with 4:09 on the clock. The Bulldogs had the answer and finished the game scoring the final four points.

Creighton led the Tigers Sunday with 13 points while Brea Elmore scored 10 including eight in the second half. Taylor Williams led the team with eight rebounds and Wilder-Cochran finished with seven points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals with zero turnovers in her return trip to Alabama.

As a team, Memphis outrebounded the Bulldogs, 35-27. The Tigers also outshot the Bulldogs, but eight made three-pointers by Samford compared to one by the Tigers proved to be one of the major differences in the game.

The Tigers will remain on the road this week with a trip to Illinois Thursday. Tip-off against the Fighting Illini is scheduled for 12 p.m. at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. For more information on the Memphis women's basketball team, follow us on Twitter at @MemphisWBB.