On January 14, 2014 a 10-7 Tigers team welcomed No. 23 Rutgers to town for a conference showdown. Trailing by nine at the half, Memphis crawled back to tie the game at 66-all as the game clock hit zero. The Tigers clawed their way to a 74-73 win in overtime, marking their first win over a ranked team since 2003. Sophomore Ariel Hearn paced Memphis with 18 points, four assists, and four steals.
Fast forward two years and history seems to have repeated itself. Hearn is now a senior and the leader of the Tiger squad. The guard led by example with a career-high 33 points in an 88-87 overtime win last night against No. 15 USF. Hearn turned in a well-balanced performance as she grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out six assists, and tied her career high with five steals.
"Ariel Hearn is our highlight, she is our go to player", Coach McFerrin stated post game.
Hearn leads the Tigers with 14.8 points per game and 3.4 assists per game through 19 games this season and eclipsed the 1,500 career point milestone in a 70-55 win against Jacksonville State back on Nov. 13. Memphis is currently 4-4 in The American with 10 league games remaining in the regular season, including road games with No. 1 UConn and No. 15 USF.