Sunday's basketball game at Elma Roane Fieldhouse resembled any number of slasher films and cookie-cutter Hollywood romances: a new script, but the same old ending.
The Lady Tigers surrendered a lead with a minute to play, falling 58-56 to the Cincinnati Bearcats.
It was the second time in three days that Memphis (10-11 overall, 3-5 in Conference USA) lost a lead down the stretch. On Friday, Louisville took advantage of a five-minute U of M scoring drought midway through the second half to take the lead and a 75-68 victory.It's a theme Lady Tigers guard Victoria Crawford is tired of experiencing.
"We've got to put teams away," Crawford said. "We have a lead ... five points, six points, and the end result is always the same."
Crawford's frustration was evident and understandable. Despite her game-high 27 points Memphis became Cincinnati's first conference victim in seven tries. The Bearcats (6-14, 1-6) won with good defense and dominating rebounding in the game's final 10 minutes.
The Lady Tigers could not match, scoring just five points in the last 6:43 of the second half. "Not all the shots are going to fall," said Memphis guard Jennifer Sullivan. "We took some good shots, they didn't go in."
Memphis couldn't capitalize at the free throw line either, shooting 6-13 in the second half and 52.9 percent overall. The poor shooting and a lack of rebounding proved too much for the Lady Tigers to overcome.
"It hurts because we cut down on our turnovers and now we let our rebounding (suffer) and we miss free throws," Savage said. "We've been shooting 75, 78 or 80 percent ... We have to realize you can't fix one thing and let other things go out the window."
The Bearcats' most productive player was reserve center Anne Stephens, who finished with a career-high 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds.
She just manhandled us inside," said Lady Tigers coach Blair Savage. "(Defensively,) we let her manipulate us."
Stephens' biggest basket of the game was also her last. After Crawford's driving lay-up gave Memphis a 56-55 lead with 33 seconds left, Stephens put back a miss by Bearcats' point guard Micah Harvey with 9 seconds to play, silencing the crowd of 1,138.
On the ensuing possession, Sullivan missed a wild shot that Stephens corralled under the basket.
You just have to hope you rebound," said Cincinnati coach Laurie Pirtle. "Anne did a good job of rebounding it."
Stephens hit one of two free throws with .7 seconds to cap the scoring.
Before the Bearcats' frantic rally, it looked like the Lady Tigers would hit the road with a win.
Tamika Butler's jumper capped a 21-8 run to start the second half and gave Memphis a 48-41 lead with 9:29 remaining.
Jessica Hall's steal and layup with 6:43 left also pushed the lead to seven, setting up Cincinnati's final surge.
"I definitely felt their adamant desire to win," Pirtle said. For Memphis, the loss closes an 0-2 home stand that dropped them to ninth in the C-USA standings.
The U of M's next game is Feb. 5 at TCU (15-6, 6-1).
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