Sharp shooting on the offensive end and lock down defense for the Memphis Tiger women’s basketball team would help them cruise to an 80-51 win over SMU tonight for their first American Athletic Conference win of the season.
Following tonight’s game, Memphis moves to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in AAC play.
The Tigers got out to a fast start; Hannah Riddick would lead the team to a 9-2 lead in the opening three minutes with seven of the team’s points and six of the team’s eight rebounds. Memphis’ defense would hold steady in the first quarter as well, keeping SMU to single digit scoring and taking an 16-8 lead into the second quarter.
Memphis continued to dominate into the second quarter, stringing together a 9-0 run that was capped off with an -and one from Jamirah Shutes to push the Tiger’s lead out to 27-9.
Despite the Mustangs scoring on four possessions down the floor, Lanetta Williams and Emani Jefferson laid in buckets in the minute of the half to take a 39-24 lead into the break.
The Tigers would push their lead out to 20 early in the third quarter after Shutes and Madison Griggs drained back-to-back shots. Jefferson would force SMU to call a timeout with 3:58 left in the quarter after a transition lay-up and a quick steal and score to give Memphis a 53-31 lead. Memphis would end the quarter on a 9-4 run and take the 62-35 lead into the fourth.
It was smooth sailing for the Tigers in the final 10 minutes of the game. While SMU tried to slow down the Memphis offense with a full court press, Tanuyel Welch, Destiny Thomas and Jefferson would all score in transition to put Memphis up by as much as 49 before taking the 80-51 win.
Emani Jefferson, Tanuyel Welch and Jamirah Shutes all reached double figures in scoring with 16, 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Hannah Riddick added in nine points while grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds.
As a team, Memphis shot an outstanding 51% from the field and outrebounded SMU 42-28.
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