They looked to be in freefall after losing seven straight, but the University of Memphis women's basketball team closed the regular season with two-straight wins to right the ship just in time for postseason play.
The Tigers open the American Athletic Conference tournament on Friday against the University of Houston (5-24, 1-17 AAC) in Uncasville, Conn.
Senior guard Jasbriell Swain said the winning streak couldn't have come at a better time for the seventh-seeded Tigers. She celebrated her final home game at Elma Roane Fieldhouse in the Tigers' 53-47 win over Cincinnati on Monday.
"These two wins really gave us a boost going into the tournament," Swain said. "We wanted this seeding, and we put ourselves in this position."
The U of M (13-17, 6-12 AAC) defeated the Cougars twice already this season, but neither game was a cakewalk. The Tigers won by 10 points in Houston on March 1, but they only won by eight points at home on Jan. 18.
Memphis head coach Melissa McFerrin was pleased with the Tigers' effort in both games, but she said there's always room for improvement.
"Both those games we played pretty well defensively," the sixth-year coach said. "We didn't play very well offensively, so we've got to talk about getting better shots and staying with our defensive game plan, which I think we have."
The struggling Cougars enter Friday's matchup on a six-game losing streak, and they're 1-17 in their last 18 games.
Sophomore forward Marche' Amerson is the only player to average double figures for a low-scoring Houston squad. She scores 10.1 points per game and snatches 2.5 rebounds.
As a unit, the Cougars shoot a putrid 25.2 percent from behind the arc, and they shoot 31.8 percent from the field overall.
McFerrin said she hopes her team will evolve into primarily a man-on-man defensive team, but Houston's numbers allow them to play more zone and rest their legs in anticipation for the remainder of the tournament.
Breigha Wilder-Cochran, a freshman guard for the Tigers, refuses to take Friday's game for granted. She said the Tigers have to approach the game like any other, and it doesn't matter if they've already beaten the Cougars twice.
"They were two close games," Wilder-Cochran said. "Houston is a very well-coached team. They're a good team. We just have to play them like we want to win not like we've already beat them twice. Like the old saying goes, it's hard to beat a team three times."
Memphis' sophomore guard Ariel Hearn has led the way for the Tigers all season, averaging 17.5 points per game. She is the only player in double figures on the year for the Blue and Gray, but McFerrin said there are three or four other Tigers who can step up at any given time to provide a scoring lift.
It's win or go home for the U of M, and their only hope to get into the NCAA Tournament goes through Connecticut.
"This is not a time when you take anybody lightly," McFerrin said. "You go into that understanding that every game is a put up or shut up game."
The games tips off at 7 p.m. Fans can catch the game on ESPN3.com or tune in to WUMR 91.7 FM.
