Resilient Tigers Down Vanderbilt In Nashville, 71-60

Saturday, December 16

Nashville, Tenn.

6:00 PM

University of Memphis

3-8

Vanderbilt

3-8

Memphis

Vanderbilt

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Resilient Tigers Down Vanderbilt In Nashville, 71-60

Dec 16, 2017 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Memphis defeats Commodores for first time on the road in program history

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Memphis women's basketball team made another jump forward Saturday evening with a 71-60 victory over SEC foe Vanderbilt at the historic Memorial Gym. In front of a strong contingent of Memphis fans, the Tigers downed the Commodores for the second-straight season and first time on the road in program history. Memphis improves to 3-8 on the year.

How It Happened
The game started out in a back-and-forth fashion with the two squads exchanging alternating lead. Vanderbilt, however, halted the Memphis offense to close out the first quarter to take a six-point, 15-9 lead.

Memphis didn't back down and pushed the halftime score to just a one-point, 29-28, deficit behind a team-high 11 points from Brea Elmore. At one point in the second, a Jada Stinson three-pointer gave the Tigers a 20-19 lead.

That momentum for Memphis continued into the third quarter as the Tigers exploded for a season-high 24 points to take a seven-point lead into the final 10 minutes of play. Back-to-back jumpers by Elmore combined with a jumper by Taylor Barnes is what first pushed the Tigers to a seven-point edge with 4:34 on the clock. That lead remained at seven when Cheyenne Creighton hit a three-pointer in the corner as time expired.

Memphis continued to battle down the stretch and eight fourth quarter points by Brianna Porter pushed the Tigers through until the end. The Tigers led by as many as 14 over the Commodores when Barnes knocked down a pair of free throws with 27 seconds to play.

Turning Point
A 24-point third quarter combined with 23 second half rebounds pushed the Tigers past Vanderbilt. The final lead change was with 8:04 left in the third on a Brianna Porter lay-up.

Notables

Memphis defeated Vanderbilt for the first time on the road in program history.
It was also the second-straight win over Vanderbilt after the Tigers downed the Commodores, 75-59, in Memphis last year.
Brea Elmore scored the first five points for Memphis, including a three-pointer. She finished with a team-high 21 points.
Memphis outscored Vanderbilt 19-14 in the second quarter to cut the deficit to one. The Tigers then went on to outscore the Commodores 43-31 in the second half.
The 24 points scored in the third quarter is a season-high for the Tigers.
Cheyenne Creighton finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for her sixth double-double this season. She now has 14 in her career.
Breigha Wilder-Cochran finished with a career-high 13 rebounds. She also led the Tigers with four assists.
Brianna Porter scored a career-high 14 points including eight in the fourth quarter.
Taylor Barnes added a season-high 18 points for Memphis and is averaging 17.5 points in the last two games.
In all, four Tigers scored in double-digits and two Tigers pulled down at least 10 rebounds.
Memphis outrebounded Vanderbilt 44-24 for the largest rebounding margin in favor of the Tigers this season.

Melissa McFerrin Quotable
We turned into tough players. We stepped up and made plays. This is a big win here. I'm just really happy for our team. We've been through a little adversity and we have banded together and are playing hard.

Next Up For The Tigers
Memphis now returns home for the final two games before the Holiday Break. The Tigers will first take on Jackson State Tuesday evening at 6 p.m. before welcoming Grambling State at 12 p.m. on Thursday. Tuesday's game is part of the Tiger Toy Drive and by bringing a new toy fans can get into the game for free.

The game can be heard on 91.7 FM WUMR and you can watch the game at www.gotigersgo.com/watch. For more information on the Memphis women's basketball team, follow the Tigers on Twitter at @MemphisWBB.