University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Tulsa
@MemphisWBKB Hosting Tulsa Tuesday
Feb 23, 2015 | Women's Basketball
The Memphis women's basketball team (13-13, 7-8 American) is hosting a must-win game on Tuesday night against Tulsa (14-12, 9-6 American) if they want to improve on their current No. 7 seed for the upcoming American Athletic Conference tournament.
Series History -- Tigers vs Tulsa
This is the 12th meeting between the Tigers and Tulsa. The Tigers lead the overall series, 6-5, but have lost two straight against the Golden Hurricane, including a 79-69 loss in Tulsa back at the beginning of January.
Memphis is 4-1 all-time against Tulsa in games played in Memphis. Tulsa last won a game in the Bluff City in 2006-07.
The Last Time We Met: Tulsa
Tulsa turned 14 Tiger turnovers in to 25 points and out-rebounded Memphis 33-30, in a 79-69 win. The Tigers led a majority of the first half thanks to a rebounding edge, but with Memphis up 23-16 with 7:04 to play in the first half, the Tigers committed turnovers on five straight trips and Tulsa used a pair of threes and two paint buckets to tie the game at 23 with 4:13 left.
Tulsa then drained back-to-back threes and pushed their lead to 29-23 and led 32-31 at the half.
Memphis sandwiched turnovers around a Tulsa triple to start the second half and spent the rest of the half trying to stay within range. Memphis pulled within one at 56-55 with 7:59 to go, but Tulsa kept the Tigers two possessions down and then iced the win at the free-throw line, 79-69.
Asia Fuqua-Bey had a season-best 18 points on 9-for-11 shooting and Ariel Hearn added 17 points. The Tulsa game was the last one Memphis played without the services of starting point guard Breigha Wilder-Cochran, who was sitting out with a hand injury.
Tulsa had five players in double-digits, led by a game-high 19 points from Kelsee Grovey. Ashley Hughes added 14 points and Teanna Reid and Kadan Brady each scored 13. Ashley Clark finished with 10 points as the Tulsa bench out-scored the Tiger bench 40-14.
Creighton named to American Honor Roll
Freshman post Cheyenne Creighton was named to the American Athletic Conference honor roll on Monday, becoming the fourth different Tiger to earn a spot on the league's weekly honor roll.
Creighton averaged 11 points and four rebounds per game in a 1-1 week for Memphis last week. After scoring a career-best 12 points in the win over UCF on Wednesday, she made her first career start at Tulane, finishing with 11 points and shooting 5-for-7 from the field.
The Pickering, Ontario, native is the lone Memphis freshman to appear in all 26 games for the Tigers this season.
Double-double for Wright off the Bench
Junior forward Brianna Wright came off the bench in the loss at Tulane and posted her fifth double-double of the season. Wright finished with 12 po
The four steals pushed the junior past the 100 steal mark for her entire collegiate career (including one year in junior college at Chipola Junior College). She has also moved within 154 points of scoring 1,000 total career collegiate points (again, including her totals from Chipola JC) heading in to the second Tulsa contest.
Tiger Double-Doubles
Brianna Wright vs. Missouri State, 11 pts, 16 reb (11/14/14)
Courtney Powell vs. Samford, 11 pts, 11 reb (11/16/14)
Mooriah Rowser vs. SIU, 13 pts, 10 reb (11/26/14)
Brianna Wright vs. UALR, 14 pts, 16 reb (11/29/14)
Asia Fuqua-Bey vs. MVSU, 12 pts, 12 reb (12/19/14)
Brianna Wright vs. Temple, 18 pts, 14 reb. (12/28/14)
Brianna Wright vs. Cincinnati, 11 pts, 14 reb. (1/14/15)
Brianna Wright at Tulane, 12 pts, 11 reb. (2/21/15)
Hearn Approaching 15th All-Time at Memphis
Ariel Hearn needs 11 more points to move in to the top 15 all-time at Memphis in scoring heading in to Tuesday's game vs. Tulsa.
She enters Tuesday's game with 1,416 career points. She is eying Shannon Hamp's (1999-2003) mark of 1,429 points that currently sits 15th on the career scoring list.
If Hearn can get to the 1,500 career point mark this year, she will be in the top 13 at the school in scoring (1,510 is currently 12th). In her third season as a Tiger, Hearn is currently 240 points from moving to the career top 10 at Memphis. Former teammate Nicole Dickson is currently 10th in Memphis history with 1,656 career points.
Wilder-Cochran Returns to Lineup
After missing three games with an injury suffered in the loss at Temple, Breigha Wilder-Cochran returned to the lineup, and the starters group, in the Tulane game.
After missing games against UConn, Houston and UCF, the sophomore guard finished with seven points, three assists and a steal in 24 minutes in her return to the court.
It's been a tough season for Wilder-Cochran. The returning point guard suffered an injury in the first practice of the fall and missed a lot of preseason work, then suffered a hand injury in the loss at USF on New Year's Eve and missed the next three games.
She's missed seven games so far this season due to injury.
If the Tournament Started Today
If the American Athletic Conference tournament started today, the Tigers would be the No. 7 seed. In order for Memphis to have any chance of improving their seeding, they need to win Tuesday night vs. Tulsa, otherwise, Tulsa is too many games ahead of Memphis for the Tigers to catch them.
As the No. 7 seed, the Tigers would play No. 10 seed SMU if the tournament started today.
