SMU’s Janielle Dodds drives the lane against Marshall. (Lindsey Perkins)

The Mustangs will have to do something they haven’t done all season if they want to make a run for the Conference USA Tournament title: beat Tulsa.

SMU was unable to do it in two attempts during the regular season. The Golden Hurricane got a 75-62 overtime win Jan. 5 at home and defeated the Mustangs in Moody 70-68 on Jan. 26. Now, over a month later, SMU has a chance to get revenge.

“We have a lot of frustration with Tulsa because it is a team we just don’t like,” senior post Janielle Dodds said. “We don’t play well against them, but we only have one more chance to show them who is the better team.”

The No. 10 seed Golden Hurricane are coming off an 85-63 upset of the No. 7 seed Memphis Tigers yesterday. Now the Mustangs are faced with the only team other than regular season conference champions UTEP to defeat them in both meetings this season.

Mustangs’ head coach Rhonda Rompola said one thing SMU has going for them is the difficulty of beating one team three times in a season.

The Mustangs don’t need much motivation to get the win. With five seniors on the team and returning all five starters, including All-Conference USA Freshman from last season Delisha Wills, the Mustangs have the experience to make a run for the title.

For the seniors it has been the best team they have been a part of in their years at SMU. Finishing the season with a team-record 21 wins, the Mustangs feel they can beat any team in the conference; they just have to do it.

They didn’t do that in their final two games of the regular season, losing to UTEP and Tulane on the road.

“My team is extremely angry and furious that we lost those two games,” Dodds said.

The Mustangs will be looking to put those two losses behind them as well as the two losses to Tulsa during the season. The quarterfinal match will begin at 11 a.m. in Orlando.