With four players dressed in street clothes and on the bench, the Christian Brothers Lady Buccaneers were still over matched.
In the first of two exhibition games in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, the Memphis Lady Tigers beat the Lady Buccaneers 88-55.
The Tigers managed the 33 point victory without senior center Shannon Hamp, junior forward Jordie Soso, sophomore guard Raven Rogers and freshman center Latrice Booker.
Head coach Joye Lee-McNelis said she was satisfied with the team’s effort and disappointed the suspensions hurt future game plans.
“I think it was a very good first game for us,” Lee-McNelis said. “I think there are a lot things we got to be proud of. Looking at the suspensions, of course we felt like it wouldn’t allow us to look at some combinations.”
Lee-McNelis said the lack of four players did provide a blessing in disguise.
“I think the thing it did give us an opportunity to do is watch some of the younger players step to the forefront.”
Players like freshman Charity Egenti as young as 17 years old help lead the Lady Tigers.
Egenti finished with a game high and career high 21 points. The 6-2, center attacked the boards grabbing seven rebounds.
Four other Lady Tigers scored in double figures. Junior center Kaneshi Hart scored 15 points ,and junior guard Princess Swilley chipped in with 10.
Senior forward Rita Beckwith was the last Memphis player in double figures finishing with 19 points to go along with 10 rebounds.
The offensive explosion from Memphis helped to a 50-31 halftime lead.
With a mixture of fast break baskets and free throw shooting, the Lady Tigers largest margin grew to 34 points at 75-41.
The Lady Tigers were able to make runs with their defense holding the Buccaneers to 40 percent shooting from the field.
Meanwhile,Christian Brothers watched the lady shoot 49 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three-point range, going three for seven behind the acre.
Hart said the offensive showing and the victory were nice, but the team still has some quinces to works out for the regular season.
“Two things we have to work on is half court defense and being patient on offense,” Hart said. “We could get out and ran on (Christian Brothers) which gave us a lot of transition points. But we got to learn how to set up in our offense and get what we want out of our offense.”
