DALLAS, TX – The University of Memphis women’s basketball team (18-5, 8-2 C-USA) held SMU (12-11, 5-5 C-USA) to 28.0 percent from the floor and 19 points in the second half in a 60-55 win on the road, Thursday night.
Memphis got into the hole early, as SMU crashed the offensive rebounds, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes to build a 14-2 advantage in second chance points. On the other end, Memphis could not figure out the SMU zone, hitting just 1-for-7 from three-point range and shooting just 38.5 percent to fall behind by 36-23, the biggest deficit at the half of the season. The Tigers had balanced scoring from six different players, but SMU was ripping down rebounds and getting out in transition, and then using offensive rebounders to clean up.
The Tigers came out of the locker room after the half with more energy and with better rebounding effort, sparking an 11-0 run that forced an SMU timeout with SMU up 36-32. Sophomore point guard Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir then got out on a fast break off a Nicole Dickson steal and tied the game at 38 with 14:37 to play. The two teams exchanged the lead 10 more times until a Ramses Lonlack steal and layup pushed the Memphis lead to three at 49-46 with 6:25 to play. Both teams then battled fouls and turnovers, but SMU was not done. The Mustangs erased a five-point Memphis lead with five straight points from Brittney Hardy, tying the game at 53 with 2:06 to play. But Jasmine Lee rebounded Hardy’s second missed free-throw out of a one-and-one and was fouled, knocking down two straight free throws to push Memphis back in front. The Tigers then got lucky. Out of a time out, the offensive set broke down and Abdul-Qaadir left a jumper short. Dickson started volleyballing the rebound, tipping the ball in to push the Tigers up 57-53.
SMU tried to answer again with a deep jumper from Sabrina McKinney to cut it to two, but Lee then cleaned up a Ramses Lonlack missed jumper, hitting the bucket and one for the final 60-55 score.
Lee overcame a slow start to the game to finish with a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Dickson fell just short of her first double-double in league play, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. Lonlack added 10 points and Abdul-Qaadir with eight, all in the second half, in the win.
Memphis will return home to face Houston, Sunday, at 2 p.m. In honor of National Girls & Women in Sports Day, the athletic department will host a free clinic for youth in grades eight and under. The clinic will be led by the five-time C-USA championship women’s soccer team, the national championship spirit squads and the Tiger volleyball team. Registration for the clinic begins at noon and the clinic starts at 12:30 p.m. All clinic participants will then receive free admission in to the 2 p.m. game. Postgame, the Tiger women’s basketball team will sign autographs.
