University of Memphis Athletics
Women's Basketball Back in Action Wednesday Night
Dec 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Dec. 27, 2010
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Scouting the Cowgirls
The Cowgirls have bounced back this year to win as many games just 11 games in to the season as they did all of last season. McNeese State has won five of its last six games, with the one loss being a road overtime loss at Norfolk State. Twins Ashlyn and Caitlyn Baggett lead McNeese State in scorin with 14.7 and 9.4 points per game, respectively. The duo redshirted last season. Caitlyn leads the squad with 47 assists on the season, while Ashlyn is the team's leading scorer and three-point scoring threat, having connected on 27 three-point field goals. Junior guard Candace LaCombe is also a three-point threat for McNeese State, having hit 19 of 67 attempts on the season.
Up front, junior Kendra Wells leads the Cowgirls with 7.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Senior Kiara Johnson also gives the Cowgirls' front line some experience, with her 7.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Memphis will be the second C-USA school McNeese State will face, having opened the season on the road at Southern Miss, and suffering a narrow 70-64 loss in that road game.
Like the Tigers, McNeese State wants to hold its opponents scoring low. The Cowgirls are 6-0 when holding the opposition to fewer than 55 points, and the Cowgirls pressure has hurt its opponents, forcing 26.4 turnovers a night, while committing just 19.2 turnovers with the ball in their own end. Through the first 11 games, five different players have double-digit steals for McNeese State, and freshman guard Alaina Verdin has come off the bench to lead the team with six blocks on the year.
Head Coach Brooks Donald-Williams will be a familiar face on the Tigers' sideline. Prior to her stint as an assistant coach at Southern Miss from 2004-2007, Donald-Williams was an assistant coach for the Tigers' under former coach Joye Lee-McNelis during the 2003-04 season. She followed Lee-McNelis to Southern Miss, and was hired as the head coach at McNeese State prior to the 2007-08 season.
How Low Can You Go?
In five of the last six games, Memphis has held its opponents to 50 or fewer points three times. The three exceptions? North Dakota State scoring 55, North Carolina A&T scoring 51 and FIU scoring 65 points. In five games, Tigers' opponents are averaging 50.4 ppg. For the entire season, Memphis has given up 70 or more points just two times, once in a win at Indiana and the loss at Kansas.
Jackson A Force On the Boards, and On the Stripe
Mary Jackson is adjusting to her role with the Tigers after sitting out last season as a transfer from the University of Louisville. Jackson had a career-high five offensive rebounds in the game against FIU and her work on the glass has drawn foul calls for her. She is shooting 78.6 percent at the line in the last three games (11-for-14), including back-to-back 5-for-6 shooting nights from the stripe in the last two games. Her six rebounds against FIU was just one off a career high for the guard from Oakhaven High School.
Speaking of Rebounds and Tigers Coming Off the Bench
Sophomore forward Nicole Dickson ranks fourth on the team in scoring with 6.2 ppg, but its her work on the glass that is moving her to a career plateau. The Greeneville, Tenn., native needs just 13 rebounds to get to 200 for her career. After missing a significant portion of the pre-season and the Tigers' first two games due to injury, Dickson has scored double-digit points in two of the last three games. The C-USA All-Freshman honoree is still struggling to find her stroke from beyond the arc, hitting 2-of-20 attempts after hitting 23 triples last year.
Winchell in Top 10 in Assist-to-Turnover
Senior point guard Alex Winchell has averaged 28.0 minutes a game, and most of those have been with the ball in her hands. She currently ranks 5th in Conference USA with 4.3 assists per game and 10th in assist-to-turnover ratio with 1.3 ratio. The Atlanta native has 51 assists against 40 turnovers for the season and has handed out five or more assists in three straight games, the first player to do so since LaToya Bullard had three games last year when she had 11, 8 and 7 assists in back-to-back-to-back games.
Lonlack Moving Up in Thefts
Junior guard Ramses Lonlack is just 12 steals shy of the 200 career steal mark. Crossing that barrier would make Lonlack just the 9th player in Memphis history to have 200 or more steals in a career. The junior from Cameroon is also Memphis' third-leading scorer, just shy of double-digits with 9.0 points per game. She and teammate Brittany Carter are tied for the team lead with 27 steals on the season. Senior guard Alex Winchell is third on the roster with 19 steals.
Lonlack is also just five rebounds shy of her 400th board. The guard has gotten 180 of her 395 career boards on the offensive glass in the first 76 games of her college career.
Lee Looking For Consistency
After opening the season with double-digit scoring in three of four games and double-digit rebounds in three of four games, junior post Jasmine Lee then went four games with single digit scoring and rebounding. The challenge was made by the Tigers' coaching staff for the junior to find some consistency in her game and she has started to make the adjustment to the collapsing defenses and double-teams. In her last four games she has scored 15 or more points four times and she is averaging 8.5 rebounds and 16.0 points per game. She is also averaging one steal and almost one full assist a game in the last four outings.
Getting on the Glass Makes the Tigers Go
In the nine Memphis wins so far this season, the Tigers hold a +8.4 rebounding advantage. In the three Tiger losses, Memphis has been out-rebounded by a -13.3 margin. Getting the rebound and getting out into transition is a big part of the Tigers' offense. In those three losses, Memphis averaged just 47.7 points per game. In the eight wins, Memphis averages 68.4 ppg.
Bench Production Up
Memphis is 8-0 when the Tigers' bench out-scores the opponents bench.
Back Home
The Tigers will be putting a winning streak on the line Wednesday night. Memphis has won 16 straight games in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, dating back to last season.
Fieldhouse Wins 12/20/09 Northwestern State W, 73-58 12/28/09 Jackson State W, 70-48 1/2/10 Saint Louis W, 59-55 1/7/10 Tulsa * W, 77-72 2/4/10 UAB * W, 67-56 2/12/10 Southern Miss * W, 89-85 (OT) 2/14/10 UCF * W, 76-72 2/25/10 Marshall * W, 62-53 3/18/10 UMKC % W, 72-67 3/21/10 Wichita State % W, 74-58 3/25/10 TAMUCC % W, 80-55 11/15/10 Grambling State W, 81-59 12/6/10 Chicago State W, 50-49 12/11/10 UALR W, 64-47 12/19/10 North Carolina A&T W, 76-51 12/22/10 FIU W, 71-65The last Memphis loss in the Fieldhouse was on a last second three against Ole Miss last year (73-72, on Dec. 18, 2009). Memphis was 12-2 in games played in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse last season.
Doubling Up
In the first 12 games of the season, the Tigers have posted five double-doubles, including Ellis' first of the season against North Carolina A&T.
Tiger Doubles 11/15/10 Jasmine Lee 21 points 13 rebounds vs. Grambling 11/18/10 Jasmine Lee 19 points 12 rebounds at Indiana 12/6/10 Brittany Carter 17 points 10 rebounds vs. Chicago St. 12/17/10 Jasmine Lee 15 points 10 rebounds at Saint Louis 12/19/10 Savannah Ellis 12 points 10 rebounds vs. NC A&TEllis Joins 500-500-100 Club
Senior center Savannah Ellis scored two quick baskets to start the game against North Carolina A&T. Those four quick points gave her 500 for her career, and put her in some pretty prestigious company. She is just the fourth player in Memphis history to have 500 points, 500 rebounds and 100 or more blocks. Her next benchmark? The 600 rebound mark...she is 26 shy of that mark heading in to Wednesday night's game.
500-500 Tiger Club Rebounds Points Blocks 1. Regina Street 1,277 rebounds 2,044 points 313 2. Tamika Whitmore 952 rebounds 2,488 points 108 3. Keeta Matthews 926 rebounds 2,133 points 42 4. Kim Duppins 881 rebounds 1,491 points 71 5. Ashley Thornton 713 rebounds 877 points 23 6. LaTonya Johnson 686 rebounds 2,232 points 20 7. Melissa Abraham 685 rebounds 792 points 101 8. Diane Gary 670 rebounds 893 points 13 9. Heather Newlon 646 rebounds 982 points 33 10. Raven Rogers 624 rebounds 760 points 54 11. Wanda Dillard 611 rebounds 1,510 points 15 12. Savannah Ellis 574 rebounds 517 points 105 13. Shannon Hamp 567 rebounds 1,427 points 30 14. Kitty Allen 559 rebounds 1,823 points 56 15. Michelle Winrow 548 rebounds 907 points 37 16. Vera Webb 537 rebounds 1,475 points 17 17. LaShanya Garner 524 rebounds 838 points 36Carter Next to 1,000?
Barring something unusual happening, the next 1,000 point Tiger scorer might well be wearing No. 25 this season. With her 13 points against North Carolina A&T, Brittany Carter pushed past the 800 point career mark, and now has 827 points in 46 career games at Memphis. Her 18.0 ppg career scoring average ranks sixth in Memphis history and she needs 173 more points to become the 20th player in Memphis history with 1,000 career points.
Her scoring average is down this year with the addition of six new players. After leading Conference USA with 19.2 ppg last year, she is averaging 14.4 ppg this year, and has been held to single digits three times in the first part of the season after having just two single digit scoring games all of last season. But her shots per game number is lower this year as well with other scoring options active on the roster. After attempting 17.2 shots a game last year, she has been able to be more selective this year, attempting 14.6 per night and her shooting percentage is close to last year's 41.8 percent clip, with a 39.8 clip this year, despite drawing extra defensive attention.
She might not be threatening LaTonya Johnson's mark for the fastest Tiger to 1,000 points (she would need to score 21.8 ppg in the next 9 games). Johnson hit the 1,000 point barrier in 54 career games. Keeta Matthews was just one game off that with her 1,000th point in her 55th career game. At her current 14.1 ppg clip, Carter is threatening Kitty Allen's mark. Allen got to 1,000 points in 62 career games, while Tamika Whitmore got to 1,000 points in 64 career games. Three of those four Tigers are in the Memphis M Club Hall of Fame, so Carter could be in prestigious company.
Five in Double-Digits
For the first time since the overtime win over Southern Miss last season, Memphis had five players in double-digits in the win over North Carolina A&T. Jasmine Lee came off the bench for her third straight double-digit outing, scoring a team-high 17 points. Brittany Carter had a tough shooting day, but once she got some steals and got out into transition, the recent college graduate finished with 13 points on 5-for-16 shooting. Savannah Ellis added her first double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points (all in the first half) and 10 rebounds. Mary Jackson had the best scoring night of her career, finishing with 11 points and adding three rebounds, while Nicole Dickson added 10 points off the bench, including a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
