The University of Memphis women’s basketball team extended its win-streak to four in a nail-biting, five-overtime victory over Temple tonight at Elma Roane Fieldhouse Thursday night.
A steal and a free throw by Tigers’ guard Bria Elmore with 14 seconds left in the game secured Memphis’ 100-97 win.
“It’s so funny because at the end of every overtime, we say ‘we’re going to get a stop. We’re going to get a stop.’ and then they’d score,” Elmore said. “So getting that last steal, I knew the game was over. It was tough, but we got it done.”
It was the longest college women’s basketball game this season. Memphis, which now extends its record to 16-10 with a 10-5 conference record, is fourth in the American Athletic Conference standings. Temple sat just above those standings with a 17-9 overall record, 11-4 conference record and in a second-place tie with USF.
Both teams stepped foot on the court having won six of their last seven games, with the lone loss handed to both by top-ranked UConn.
After five overtimes, Coach McFerrin said her players were tired, but refused to give up.
“Fortunately we outlasted Temple,” McFerrin said. “We’re not going to get tired of playing because we worked too hard for this.”
The Tigers are now 3-0 in OTs this season. Memphis has also just snapped the Owls five-game all-time winning streak against them.
“We finally beat Temple,” Tigers’ guard Brianna Wright said. “They do a lot of talking and we finally did it.”
Wright led the team with 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and one assist. She was able to step up most in overtime where 24 of her points came.
Mooriah Rowser followed with 21 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Senior guard Ariel Hearn, who shot 1-of-10 and finished with just two points, sat out the five overtime periods against Temple after fouling out in the fourth quarter.
However, Hearn was honored with a game ball before tip-off. She is now the only player in school history – male or female – to have 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 400 assists. She now totals 1,853 points, 512 rebounds and 419 assists.
Asianna Fuqua-Bey grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds, also scoring nine points and one assist. Fuqua-Bey fouled out in the second overtime.
Defense helped the Tigers exceed in its previous games. However, turnovers plagued both teams. Memphis had 34, while Temple racked up 33.
In four of its last six games, Memphis held its four foes under 60 points. The Tigers' opponents averaged 55 points, while Memphis averaged 66.8 points in those four games. Memphis also forced its opponents to average 23.8 turnovers per game (95 total) over that stretch of games.
For the sixth time this season, Memphis played a game in which the outcome was decided by five or fewer points. The Tigers are now a perfect 6-0 in games decided by five or fewer points.
The Owls are one of two league foes the Tigers have not beaten since the American Athletic Conference was formed in July of 2013 (the other being UConn). Temple won this season's earlier meeting, an 82-58 victory in the league opener for both teams.
The women’s basketball team has three regular season conference games left against USF, East Carolina and Houston before the conference tournament in Storrs, Connecticut, beginning March 4.
The team will face USF in another important conference match-up in Tampa, Florida 11 a.m. Sunday.
