Tigers Women's Basketball Posts Road Win At UCF

Wednesday, February 10

Orlando, Fla.

6 pm CT

University of Memphis

14-10, 8-5

UCF

5-19, 2-11

Memphis

UCF

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Feb 10, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Rowser nets career-high 26 points, hits career-best five treys in the victory.

ORLANDO, Fla. – When it's your night, it's your night. That's what it was for University of Memphis' Mooriah Rowser.

The Tigers redshirt junior scored a career-high 26 points and hit a career-best five three-pointers to lift Memphis to a 69-52 American Athletic Conference victory over UCF Wednesday. Senior Ariel Hearn added 10 points and nine assists, and Brea Elmore tied her career high with 12 points.

With the win, Memphis improved to 14-10 overall and 8-5 in conference play. The eight league wins are the most in a season for the Tigers since joining the American Athletic Conference in July of 2013. UCF fell to 5-19 overall and 2-11 in the conference.

Rowser netted her 26 points on 10-of-16 field goals, 5-of-7 three-pointers and 1-of-2 free throws. Brianna Wright grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Memphis.

"She (Rowser) was hot from the opening tip, and she didn't get a rest until near the end of the third quarter," said Tigers head coach Melissa McFerrin. "She was keeping us alive. Our players do a great job of sharing the basketball. We couldn't buy a basket early. Today was Mooriah's day."

Tolulope Omokore led the Knights with a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Zykira Lewis, UCF's leading scorer, had nine points.

Memphis shot only 39.7 percent from the field, but the Tigers defense proved even tougher for the Knights. Memphis held UCF to 30.6 percent shooting from the field and 9.1 percent from the arc (1-of-11). The Tigers defense forced 16 Knights' turnovers.

"It was a methodical game," said McFerrin. "Our pressure early was effective to some degree. Later on, we decided to go straight man with a few surprises, and we got more solid defensively.

"I didn't think our defense was that great, but I look at the scoreboard and see we only gave up 52 points. It's hard to be too upset about that."

The Tigers shot 42.9 percent from the arc (9-of-21), but allowed UCF to win the battle on the glass 44-39.

Unlike the first half, Memphis started the third quarter strong, using a 9-4 run to open up a 40-27 advantage. Rowser had the hot hand early and scored seven of the Tigers' nine points in the run on two jumpers and a three-pointer.

UCF responded with a 5-0 run to pull to within eight at 40-32, but six free throws and a Brianna Porter layup halted the Knights' spurt. Hearn hit four free throws and Elmore made two charity tosses in the Memphis run. The Tigers led 48-35 heading into the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Memphis put the contest out of reach early with an 8-2 run to extend its advantage to 56-37. UCF cut the Tigers' lead to 13 at 59-46 with 3:51 left, but Memphis answered with a 7-0 run to push its lead to 20 points at 66-46 with `1:36 on the clock.

In the first half, the action started slow with neither team scoring until nearly three minutes into the contest. Rowser scored the game's first points at the 7:23 mark of the opening period, and Asianna Fuqua-Bey followed with a pair of free throws 40 seconds later for an early 5-0 advantage.

Ashley Polacek got the home team on the board with a layup with 6:17 on the clock. The Tigers, though, responded with an 8-4 spurt to extend their lead to 13-6 with 4:10 left. Rowser and Elmore hit consecutive three-pointers to spur the run.

From that point, the teams exchanged baskets for the 20-11 score at the end of the first quarter. UCF had the final basket of the period, a Polacek halfcourt buzzer-beater to pull the Knights to within single digits.

Both squads continued their sluggish play early in the second quarter, but Memphis was able to maintain a double-digit lead at 26-15 on a Fuqua-Bey layup at the 4:31 mark. Two minutes later, Rowser's second three-pointer of the game gave the Tigers their largest advantage at 29-16 with 2:43 remaining before halftime.

UCF, however, had the first half's final spurt, a 5-2 run to pull to within eight at 31-23 at halftime. Nyala Shuler and Aliyah Gregory hit back-to-back baskets for the Knights' final points of the opening half.

The Tigers continue their two-game road trip Saturday, Feb. 13 when they travel to Greenville, N.C., to face East Carolina. Game time is 4 p.m. (CT) from Williams Arena.