Memphis Women's Basketball went into their against Rice trying to generate some momentum and salvage the season with a victory on the road. This did not happen as the Tigers lost to the Owls 70-59 behind a double-double from Shelby Hayes and a 24 point outing from Victoria Flores.
It was a defensive and grindy contest the entire way through, both teams had issues getting much going when they had the ball; at halftime, Memphis and Rice shot similarly from the field at about 30% and went a combined 2-18 from three. It took a thrid quarter where Rice outscored Memphis 27-10 to finally pull away.
The game was really lost on the glass for Memphis. Despite Alasia Smith pulling down eight of them herself, the team finished with only 26 rebounds and two second chance points. Meanwhile, Rice grabbed a whopping 48 boards and had 19 second chance points. Two different players finished with double digit rebounds for Rice: Shelby Hayes and Malia Fisher.
Another reason for the loss was an off night from DeeDee Hagemann. She had only three points on 1-8 shooting and three assists in 31 minutes in a game where she was a major focus of the Owls defensively, being held significantly below her averages of 14 points and seven assists.
As most games like this go, it wasn't all bad for Memphis. Tamya Smith played very great minutes off the bench, scoring 12 points at a 44% clip in only 13 minutes. The team also dominated the turnover battle, which has been a massive issue for the Tigers in the past, forcing seven more giveaways than they had.
Memphis returns home on Jan. 15 to take on the UTSA Roadrunners, who currently sit atop the standings in the American, at 7:00 PM.
