Memphis women’s basketball tipped off its season with a home game against the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (UAPB) Golden Lions. In front of about 500 children from local elementary schools for the program’s annual Education Day, who were all passionately cheering Memphis on, the Tigers, despite leading for a majority of the game, faltered in the fourth quarter and fell 69-64 at Elma Roane Fieldhouse Monday.
This loss marks just the second loss in the history of the series for Memphis and is just the second Division 1 win for UAPB in two years.
“This is obviously, a disappointing finish for our team,” said Tigers head coach Alex Simmons after the game. “I hope our team understands why we do in practice what we do and that it’ll carry over much, much better than what it did today.”
When the game tipped off, the Tigers looked very good on both sides of the ball. Their defense featured a lot of full court press and trap packages, which forced 11 turnovers in the first half and gave the home team easy buckets on the break.
Led by senior guard Chaé Harris, who finished the game with 19 points, and junior guard Daejah Richmond, who finished with 14, the Tigers offense was shooting 46% from the field and finished the half with an 11-1 run to go up 36-26 into halftime.
The problem, however, came from the glass. All throughout the game, UAPB was getting so many second chance looks. The Golden Lions finished with a whopping +16 rebound differential and had 25 offensive boards.
“When you look at who all got those offensive rebounds, it was a majority guards, Simmons said. “We were forcing them into some quick shots and some forced shots a lot of the time and our guards were relaxing.”
After a third quarter which saw both teams struggle on offense, the fourth quarter is where it all went wrong for Memphis. After freshman guard Brooklynn Charlo drilled a three-pointer to give the Tigers a 13-point lead, they would only make three more field goals the rest of the game.
Led by Indiya Bowen, who had 18 points in just the fourth quarter alone, UAPB strung together stops and buckets while whittling away at the clock to take a one-possession lead with 2:47 left in the game. While the Tigers fought to force overtime, the shots just weren’t falling, and the Golden Lions left Elma Roane Fieldhouse with an upset win.
For a team that has many power-conference opponents on its schedule, including No. 12 Ole Miss coming to the Bluff City on Nov. 18, this result is a gut-punch to start the year when the Tigers really need to put their best foot forward.
“I’m not even sure if (the loss) is disappointing, I think it’s more eye-opening than anything,” Simmons said.
The Tigers will be back in action when they take a trip west on I-40 to face Little Rock on Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
