When you're in "The Jungle," you can't sleep on the Lady Tigers.
The women's basketball team took to the court Wednesday in preseason action against Slovan Bratislava, dominating the Slovakian team 87-55.
Filled with cheering schoolchildren and fans alike, the excitement in The Fieldhouse fueled the Lady Tigers as they went into attack mode in the first half.
The children attended the exhibition game as part of 'field day' for several Memphis elementary and middle schools.
"It was great for the children to be here," head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said. "It was an opportunity for them to see a college game and a team from another country."
Leading the attack for Memphis was junior forward Malissa Bush with 16 points and eight rebounds.
"I think my role is to be a garbage player, to go out and clean up the boards," she said.
She cleaned up well. Five out of her eight rebounds came on offense.
Right behind Bush was sophomore center Shannon Hamp and senior forward Tiffany Adkins.
Hamp finished with 15 points and six rebounds while All-America candidate Adkins tallied 13 points and three boards.
Other Lady Tigers who stepped up were senior guard Tiffany Collins, junior forward Lauren Jackson and senior forward Kelly Herron.
"I thought Adkins, Collins, Bush and Hamp were no doubt the solid players in the game," McNelis said. "I thought they did a very good job of trying to hold this group together."
The trio of freshman also added a dynamic to the game.
Danielle Barnard, Princess Swilley and Kaneshi Hart debuted their talents and did not disappoint.
"When they all went in the game, they immediately contributed," Hamp said.
McNelis also said the freshmen have the potential to make an impact on the team.
"Once they get some game experience, they'll be really good and have a lot of potential," she said.
Memphis's first half efforts were so good, the Lady Tigers only allowed Slovan 6-of-21 shooting and went in at halftime with 50-19 lead.
In the second, the Lady Tigers did not come back as hard. A turnover by Adkins early in second spawned a 10-2 run led by Slovan's Renata Kozmonova and Zuzana Mrcacnova.
But the run was not enough because the Lady Tigers were still up 56-31.
Memphis had 20 turnovers on the night, but it really didn't matter.
"We relaxed a little too much," Adkins said. "I think we should have taken care of the ball better in the second half."
Bush said the team became complacent and hit some lows in the second half, but the importance of the game was to learn from mistakes and get all the first game jitters out of the way.
"We played one half of good basketball," she said. "When we reach our peak, we should be playing 40 minutes of great basketball."
