The Memphis women’s basketball team defeated the Rice Owls 79-74 in overtime Tuesday night to earn their second consecutive conference win, as Head Coach Alex Simmons secured her 100th career win.
The Tigers (10-15, 6-8) entered the contest after a come from behind victory against East Carolina Saturday. Behind a career day from Shelbee Brown, the Tigers strung together a 29-point fourth quarter to down the Pirates. Madison Griggs scored her 1500th point and Alasia Smith snagged her 1000th rebound in the game.
Rice (15-11, 9-6) came into the game following a tough road loss against UAB, who sits in 3rd place in the American Athletic Conference standings.
Earlier this season when Memphis and Rice met, the Tigers came away with the 73-66 win after Smith, Griggs, Kai Carter, and Hannah Riddick all reached double-figures scoring, while Smith and Riddick picked up double-doubles with 13 and 12 rebounds, respectively.
Rice scored the game’s first points, but Memphis quickly evened up the contest. The first quarter was a back and forth affair, with neither team creating any meaningful separation.
An Aliyah Green putback layup gave the Tigers a 15-13 advantage at the end of the first.
Memphis pushed its lead out to seven points midway through the second quarter on a Jana Sallman layup.
After a brief Rice run, the Tigers created even more separation, leading 37-25 with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
The Owls made an important push to close the half, cutting the Memphis lead to 39-31 at the break.
Hannah Riddick led all scorers at halftime, scoring ten points in ten minutes of action.
The third quarter was similar to the first, as neither team was able to go on a run. Rice would cut the lead down to seven or eight, and then the Tigers would push it back out to double figures.
However, like the end of the first half, Rice went on a 4-0 run at the end of the quarter putting the score at 52-47 heading into the fourth.
Midway through the fourth things got dicey for Memphis, when an Emily Klaczek three gave the Owls the lead, capping off a 10-0 run.
The Tigers fought back quickly, but, with the score knotted at 66, neither team was able to score in the final 57 seconds of the game.
In overtime, Alasia Smith and Hannah Riddick took control of the contest, with Smith scoring seven points in the period and Riddick scoring four.
Madison Griggs scored with 30 seconds to go to give Memphis a three point lead, and Alasia Smith iced the game at the free throw line the following possession.
With the win, the Tigers complete a season sweep of Rice, but, more importantly, they now sit just a game and a half out of 6th place in the AAC standings with four games remaining. Memphis currently sits in 11th, and the top ten seeds earn a first round bye in the conference tournament.
The Tigers will look for a third consecutive win Saturday in New Orleans, as they will take on the Tulane Green Wave. The game will be on ESPN+ at 2 P.M. CT.
