SMU’s Elbie Gates catches a pass on the block in the 93-49 win over Memphis. (Lindsey Perkins)
The SMU women’s basketball team defeated the University of Memphis Tigers in a 93-49 victory Thursday night in Moody Coliseum, nearly doubling the Tigers’ final score.
With the win, the Mustangs improved to 18-6 overall and 8-3 in Conference USA, while Memphis fell to 7-17 overall and 4-7 in conference play. SMU is now tied with the University of Houston in second place with eight conference wins. SMU also moves up above UAB in conference polls after the Blazers lost to Tulsa on Thursday night.
“I felt like the team played well together,” explained head coach Rhonda Rompola. “It felt like we were on a mission tonight. I really felt like we played team ball. We’re learning not to be selfish, and it really showed.”
Coming out strong in the first half, the Mustangs lit up the board first with a layup from sophomore guard Jillian Samuels, followed by a trip to the line to put SMU up 3-0 one minute in. Giving up the lead just over two minutes in, SMU rebounded back with a layup by sophomore forward Delisha Wills to gain an eight-point advantage over the Tigers six minutes in.
“I think our transition game helped. We came out and ran. We picked it up in Houston and Rice and we’ve just been running with it,” said Wills. Stepping in for SMU in the first half, Wills posted 10 points, with half of them coming within the first 10 minutes of play.
Refusing to give up their lead, the Mustangs rallied together getting up by as much as 21 points with 2:15 left, and again with 53 seconds till the end of the half. Holding the Tigers to only 24 points the entire first half, SMU’s defense pulled down 22 rebounds, led by senior forward Sharee Shepherd with six.
Samuels hit one of her three three-pointer attempts to move her into third place for most threes in one season. Now tied with teammate Katie Gross and SMU alumna Andrea Cossey, Samuels has 53 threes on the season. Samuels needs only six more buckets to move into second place in the record books.
Closing out the first half up 21 points with a score of 45-24, the Mustangs averaged 51.4 percent in field goals, with sophomore post Alice Severin hitting all four of her field goal attempts before retreating to the bench with a knee injury.
SMU started off the second half with a nine-point run until Memphis hit a layup four minutes in to end the Mustangs’ streak. Up by as many as 30 points with 17:44 left, SMU continued to widen the score gap increasing to a 46-point advantage in the second half.
Holding the Tigers to 25 points in the second half, SMU added an additional 18 defensive rebounds to its game total.
Junior forward Elbie Gates recorded her first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to match her perfect free-throw percentage, and hit five of her eight field goals. “I went out there and played for the team,” said Gates. “I played my hardest and we played some great team ball.”
“This was one of the best games I’ve seen Elbie play. She came off the bench and was aggressive and made more plays,” said Rompola. “She played the way we’ve been waiting to see her play.”
Sophomore post Catherine Campbell also had a career first, hitting her first career three-pointer with 4:42 left until the final buzzer.
The Mustangs gathered 49 points from their bench, and hit 52 points in the paint, the team’s highest number all season. SMU swept Memphis in percentages, hitting 51.4 percent of its field goals and 81.3 percent of shots from the line, compared to 28.8 percent and 66.7 percent from Memphis, respectively.
Going into the game knowing they had to tighten their defense and defend against the post, the Mustangs managed to hold the Tigers to only three three-pointers, while SMU sank six. “We talked about it in the locker room, letting them hit only a maximum of two or three threes, and we did that. I think that was a key to our success,” explained Rompola.
The Mustangs will travel to Birmingham, Ala., on Sunday to take on the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
