BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (University of Memphis) – Tigers women’s basketball players (14-4, 4-1 C-USA) picked up their second consecutive road win after a 70-59 victory at UAB (13-5, 4-2 C-USA), Sunday night.
The Tigers hurried out to a 5-0 lead, but were struggling against UAB’s full court press. With the Blazers up 15-14, Danay Collier drilled a three pointer right in front of the UAB bench to push Memphis back in front 15-14. Memphis players used a 6-0 run to stretch that lead to 21-16, and held UAB to just one field goal in a five minute stretch from the under 12 to the under eight media breaks. UAB junior guard Amber Jones kept the home team close by ripping off seven straight points to keep the Tigers lead at single digits. Then, U of M freshman Lauren McGraw knocked down a three point field goal to start a 7-2 Memphis run that sent the Tigers into the locker room up 34-23 at the half.
Tigers coach Melissa McFerrin talked about not letting the lead dip below 10 in the locker room before coming out in the second half. However, the Blazers, who sport the nation’s No. 3 ranked defense, had other ideas. They trimmed what was a lead of 17 points to single digits with a pair of three pointers from Karisma Chapman that got the Blazer bench and crowd back into the game. The Tigers nearly collapsed on offense against the Blazer pressure, while the Blazers' LaShaunda Pratt drilled two three-pointers to cut the lead to 55-52 with 6:39 to play.
Memphis continued to work the ball inside to Jasmine Lee. The senior either drew fouls or pushed the ball back outside to the perimeter. Senior guard Ramses Lonlack knocked down a tough jumper in the paint to put the Tigers back up by double-digits, 62-52.
The Tigers committed fouls in the paint on the other end, and freethrows allowed the Blazers to dip into single digit deficits again. Nicole Dickson cut off a double team of Lee, and Brittany Carter fed her the ball to get the Tigers back in front by double-digits. The Tigers then closed out the win at the free-throw line where Memphis hit 22-of-31 shots for the night.
Brittany Carter was 8-13 from the floor on the way to 22 points to lead Memphis. Jasmine Lee added a double-double, 11 points and 12 rebounds.
