March 2, 2006

Reshundra Smiley scored a career-high 30 points as No. 5 Marshall used clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to pull away from 12th-seeded Memphis and secure an 80-73 victory in game two of the 2006 Conference USA Women's Basketball Championship presented by Aeropostale at Moody Coliseum on Thursday. The Thundering Herd made 11 of their final 12 attempts from the line in the closing two minutes, including an 8-for-8 effort from Smiley. Marshall advances to play No. 4 Southern Miss in Friday's second quarterfinal at 3:30 p.m.

Marshall trailed by as many as nine points in the second half, but Smiley and fellow guard Sikeetha Shepard-Hall combined for 27 points after the break as the Herd shot 54.2 percent from the field (13-for-24) to help overcome the deficit. Smiley went 8-for-13 from the field, including a 4-for-6 effort from three-point range. Hall tallied 23 points for the game and forward Crystal Champion went 5-for-5 from the field to finish with 13 points.

"I have to hand it to Memphis, they definitely played the way they are supposed to in March," Marshall head coach Royce Chadwich said. "(Reshundra) Smiley really stepped up for us today. Both teams put on a great show and I'm glad we had the opportunity to survive another day."

Senior guard Tamika Butler scored 10 of her team-high 22 points in the final 2:22 to keep the Tigers in the game. Junior Devin Necaise finished with 15 points and Ashley Howard grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to go with nine points.

Hall gave Marshall its first lead since the opening minutes of the game with a driving lay-up to open the second-half scoring. After another basket by the Herd, Memphis reeled off the next 13 points to regain the lead at 49-40. Freshman Paris Leonard sparked the run, scoring eight of her 12 points in the stretch.

The Tigers led by as many as 10 points in the opening stanza as Necaise led the effort with 11 points in the opening stanza. The Memphis lead was completely erased by halftime, however, after Smiley buried a pair of three pointers to fuel a 12-2 run to even the score at 36-36 at the break.