The University of Memphis women’s basketball team did not close out the 2013-14 season how it hoped, but with a more experienced roster that returns four of five starters from a year ago, coach Melissa McFerrin’s squad is poised for a more successful season in the team’s second year in the American Athletic Conference.
Last season, the Tigers appeared to be on the right track with a 10-8 record featuring an overtime win against a nationally-ranked Rutgers side until the wheels came off and the team dropped 10 of its final 13 contests.
According to McFerrin, the struggles in the team’s first season in the new conference can serve as a learning experience going forward.
“We learned that we weren’t talented enough nor deep enough (for the American),” McFerrin said. “I do think that our players were emotionally very, very ready to compete against those teams, but, obviously, from a talent perspective and from a depth perspective, we weren’t ready to compete, but now we know there are no surprises any longer.”
Depth was an issue for the Tigers last season, but it could be a strength moving forward. With four returning starters, Memphis brings back nearly all of its scoring from a season ago, and it has bolstered its depth with five incoming freshman and junior college forward Brianna Wright. With so many returning players, team chemistry could also be one of the team’s strong points in the upcoming season.
“Even though we’re adding a pretty big class of freshman and one juco girl I think the team unity between the other girls is good for this team,” redshirt sophomore guard Mooriah Rowser said. “I think there’s going to be a lot more camaraderie on the court – better than the past couple of years.”
After losing nearly her entire freshman season due to a torn ACL, Rowser is finally fully healthy, and McFerrin is counting on her to become a consistent scoring threat on the perimeter. Rowser scored 8.1 points in 22.7 minutes per game during her redshirt freshman season a year ago, but was never 100 percent healthy.
“I’ve got a lot of my quickness back,” Rowser said. “The problem with last year was that I had no reaction to anything, so I feel like I got that back over the summer. I’ve been working pretty hard so hopefully I can come and compete and be more productive for my team.”
A healthy Rowser should be able to take some of the scoring load off of junior guard Ariel Hearn’s shoulders and give Memphis a more multi-dimensional attack. Last season, Hearn hoisted up 496 field goal attempts – over 200 more than the Tigers’ second-leading shot-taker – although the junior did manage to remain efficient, shooting a team-high 37.3 percent from three-point range and leading all guards with a 39.7 percent mark from the field. Hearn averaged 17.8 points per game and was named to the AAC first team at the end of the season.
At AAC media day Hearn was selected to the conference’s preseason first team, and Memphis was picked to finish sixth after placing seventh last season.
The Tigers host Rhodes College in an exhibition game Saturday before opening the season at home against Missouri State on Nov. 14. The contest against Rhodes is set to tipoff at 2 p.m. at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.
