Women's Basketball Roundup: February 23

DePaul 59, Charlotte 58
UAB 72, South Florida 57
Memphis 83, Houston 71 | Box Score
Marquette 67, St. Louis 31 | Box Score

DePaul 59, Charlotte 58

CHICAGO -- Molly Watson's layup with five seconds to play helped DePaul edge the Charlotte 49ers women's basketball team, 59-58, Friday night at the DePaul Athletic Center. The Blue Demons clinched the game when Tonya Phifer was whistled for traveling with two-tenths of a second to play.

Lenae Williams led DePaul (14-12, 7-8 C-USA) with 20 points, including six three-pointers. Tonika Smith was the leading scorer for Charlotte (10-16, 5-10 C-USA) with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

The Blue Demons led 32-18 at halftime. Smith kept the 49ers, who managed just one field goal in the first 10 minutes, in the game with 10 straight points to end the half. Charlotte rallied in the second period, taking a 43-42 lead on an Alicia Abernathy basket with 10:39 to play. They built the lead to five with 4:20 left, going up 47-42 on an Adrienne Jordan field goal. DePaul retook the lead with 39 seconds to go on a Williams trey. Abernathy knocked down a pair from the charity stripe with 15 seconds left, but Watson answered for the Demons 10 seconds later.

Charlotte closes the regular season Sunday, when they play Marquette at 1:00 in the Bradley Center.

UAB 72, South Florida 57

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Deanna Jackson scored 36 points and pulled down 16 rebounds to lead UAB to a 72-57 win over South Florida in Conference USA play at Bartow Arena, Friday night.

The win means UAB can clinch fourth place in C-USA and a first round bye in next weeks conference tournament with a win Sunday over Houston.

In addition to her scoring and rebounding, Jackson became the schools all-time leader in blocked shots. She blocked three in the game and now has 110 for her career. She passed Mary Morning, who blocked 108 from 1993-97.

Jackson recorded her 17th double-double of the season and 47th of her career. She made 15-of-23 shots, hit 2-of-3 from three-point range, made all four of her free throws and dished our three assists. It was the second highest point total for Jacksons season and career. She scored 38 against Middle Tennessee on December 5.

Aiya Shepard led South Florida with 28 points. She was the only Bull in double figures. Shannon Layne added eight points.

UAB jumped out to a 13-0 lead and never trailed in the game. South Florida, who dressed just eight players, did cut the lead to 39-33 at the half. UAB held the Bulls to just 26 percent shooting in the second half. USF never got closer than a six-point deficit.

Brandi Stallings made two, 3-point shots in the run to start the game and finished with 11 points. She was 3-of-4 from three-point range. The Lady Blazers hit 6-of-8 from behind the arc.

UAB also dominated on the boards outrebounding South Florida 47-23. The Lady Blazers shot 48 percent from the floor and made 10-of-12 free throws. South Florida shot 37 percent from the floor for the game.

The Lady Blazers host Houston, Sunday at 2 p.m. in Bartow Arena.

Memphis 83, Houston 71

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The University of Memphis women's basketball team grabbed its fifth consecutive win over the University of Houston (18-10, 10-5), 83-71, in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse, Friday.

Memphis used a total team effort to avenge an 80-77 loss at Houston earlier this season. Four Lady Tigers scored double-digit points against the Cougars--sophomore Shannon Hamp and senior All-america candidate Tiffany Adkins led all scorers with 19 points apiece, while senior Patrice Boyd had her third career double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Malissa Bush rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Memphis led 36-28 at the half after overcoming an eight-point deficit from the beginning of the game. The Cougars attacked the Lady Tiger full court defensive press, but Memphis battled back to tie the game at 16 apiece on an Adkins free-throw. Adkins hit her second free-throw to give Memphis its first lead of the game at 17-16.

"This was a great win," said coach Joye Lee-McNelis. "We did not get off to the start that we wanted, but the big plus was that we rallied and we kept our composure and came back. We really emphasized rebounding because the other night against Texas Pan American, Houston had 68 rebounds. We did a great job on the glass tonight and outrebounded Houston, 49-36."

"I have continued to see an improvement on our turnovers," added McNelis. "We only had 15 turnovers and we really took care of the ball tonight. We had four players in double figures and we had solid movement on our offense. I am proud of how hard we have played and how hard we have worked to keep this run alive."

But Houston came back with a 5-0 run of its own when senior Jessica Shanklin hit a three to tie the game at 19 apiece. On the ensuing trip down the court, Valeria Muoneke went up for one of Houston's seven blocks in the game on a Tiffany Collins' jumper. Muoneke passed the ball to out to Shanklin who found Muoneke for an open jumper and for a Houston lead at 21-19. Houston kept that lead until the 3:23 mark in the first half when Boyd stole the ball and fed Bush for a lay-up that gave Memphis a 25-24 lead that the Lady Tigers did not relinquish the remainder of the game.

Houston's Shanklin and ShaRonda Lasseter led the Cougars with 16 points apiece. Cathy Lisa and Monet Sykes added 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Memphis will close out its home season with a 3 p.m. game, Sunday, against South Florida. The afternoon match will also be senior night. Festivities to honor seniors Adkins, Boyd, Collins and Kelly Herron will take place after the game.

Marquette 67, St. Louis 31

MILWAUKEE -- Sarah Zawodny scord 12 points and Heidi Bowman had 13 rebounds, as the Marquette women's basketball team dominated St. Louis 67-to-31 tonight in Milwaukee.

The Golden Eagles outscored St. Louis 42-to-12 inside and outrebounded the Billikens 50-to-21.

The Billikens turned the ball over 20 times, leading to 17 Marquette points.