The University of Memphis Lady Tigers basketball team hopes they do not end their conference season the way it began.
Ninth seeded Memphis (5-9 in Conference USA, 12-15 overall) travels to Charlotte, N.C., today to prepare for Thursday's game against eighth seeded East Carolina (6-8, 10-17) in the C-USA tournament. The Lady Tigers are optimistic they won't see a repeat of their first conference game of the season.
In an early January game, Memphis traveled to Greenville and gave a win to the Pirates one miscue at a time.
Twenty-one turnovers and only 10 free throw attempts doomed the Tigers en route to their first three game losing streak of the season. However, they had their chances.
East Carolina hit only eight second-half field goals, two three-pointers and shot only 34 percent, but came out on top by a final of 60-47.
"We were very impatient with their defense," said head coach Blair Savage. "They changed it up, which caused us to be impatient defensively. Our shot selection wasn't what it needed to be.
"Defensively, we were OK at times, but we had some mental lapses, particularly on penetration."
Senior Raven Rogers remembers the game well.
"That loss was really all (on) us," she said. "It wasn't anything they did that dictated the game."
According to Rogers, East Carolina will be facing a different team tomorrow.
"Since then we've been focusing on us, cutting back on turnovers, rebounding, boxing out and shooting better," she said.
In January, the Lady Tigers lost two games going into East Carolina and the same is true for tomorrow's game, but intensity levels are vastly different.
"Right now it's do or die, and our intensity level is up here," said Rogers while raising her hand above her head. Then, putting it below her waist, she added, "It was probably down here when we played them then."
The question is: Who is going to step up for the Lady Tigers when they need it the most?
"We're ready for anybody to take charge," Savage said. "At certain times it's different people and now it's tournament time and everybody's record is even, 0-0."
Jennifer Sullivan, a guard and one of four seniors on the team, may be one of the players that need to take a leadership role. She knows what her team is capable of in the first game and possibly all four that it would take to win the tournament.
"We're pretty deep in our bench," she said. "We can rotate people in and out and by the fourth day we'll be pretty fresh."
However, make no mistake, the run happy Lady Tigers will do anything but look past an opponent.
"We have little room for error," Rogers said.
