Charlotte 66, South Florida 61 (OT)
The Charlotte women's basketball team won a thrilling overtime game on the road at South Florida on Wednesday (Jan. 3) by a score of 66-61 inside Yuengling Center. With the win, the 49ers improve to 9-5 on the season and 2-0 in American conference play.
On the opening possession of the game, Olivia Porter drove to the lane for the layup to put Charlotte on the board. Defensively, Porter created a turnover off a steal which led to a fastbreak layup from Dazia Lawrence, who scored six points in the first stanza. Keanna Rembert knocked down a jumper off an assist from Jacee Busick, as the Niners made four of their first five shot attempts with all eight points coming in the paint. Romi Levy scored six in the period for USF, pacing their offense as they led 13-12 after 10 minutes of play.
Dazia Lawrence ended the 3rd quarter the same way she started the fourth, converting on jumper just outside the paint. On the following possession, Imani Smith knocked down an open three-pointer off a pass from Olivia Porter, who finished the night with three assists.
At the media timeout halfway through the fourth, South Florida held a 50-46 lead. A timely midrange jumper from Tracey Hueston cut the deficit to two. With under a minute remaining, Charlotte trailed by one with the ball. Dazia Lawrence orchestrated the Charlotte offense, kicked it out to Jacee Busick for the open three at the top of the key to give the Niners a 55-53 lead. On what proved to be USF's last possession of regulation, Romi Levy earned a trip to the charity stripe and knocked down a pair of free throws to force overtime at 55-55.
Often a precursor to a team's success in overtime is scoring first, and that is exactly what Dazia Lawrence did on the first possession for the 49ers. Keanna Rembert had a personal 4-0 run with a made basket and by knocking down a pair of free throws. Lawrence and Rembert combined to score 10 of the 11 overtime points for CLT. Four clutch free throws late in the period from Dazia Lawrence, and a suffocating Niner defense that held the Bulls to without a field goal in OT, getting four straight stops down the stretch to fuel the victory over the preseason American Athletic Conference favorites.
Dazia Lawrence scored a game-high 26 points (10-24 FG) for the Niners while pitching in five rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and three steals. Keanna Rembert (12 points) and Tracey Hueston (10 points) finished in double figures as they both made several timely baskets to contribute to the win.
Charlotte's effort defensively was outstanding from start to finish as they held the South Florida offense to 30.9% shooting (21-68) and 28% from behind the arc (7-25). The Niners controlled the glass with an advantage of 44 to 39 in rebounding, scoring 34 points in the paint compared to 14 from the Bulls.
UAB 65, Memphis 63
Maddie Walsh's 3-pointer with less than a minute to go lifted the UAB women's basketball team to a 65-63 victory over Memphis on Wednesday night at Bartow Arena.
Following Walsh's triple with 38 seconds remaining which broke a 59-59 tie, UAB got a defensive stop and Jade Weathersby made both free throws to give UAB a 64-59 lead with :25 remaining.
On the following Memphis possession, Mia Moore secured a defensive rebound and was intentionally fouled very hard which resulted in both teams having players ejected for leaving the bench and Moore receiving a technical foul in the scuffle.
Memphis made both free throws to make the score 64-61 and then missed the game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds remaining. However, Memphis got the offensive rebound and put-back to make the score 64-63 with .5 left. UAB went 1-of-2 at the line and Memphis advanced the ball following a timeout with .2 remaining, but the Blazers were able to deny the out-of-bounds alley-oop attempt to hold on for the 2-point victory.
Denim DeShields led the Blazers with 20 points and Mia Moore tallied her eighth double-double of the season with a monster night on the glass, scoring 15 points and grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds. Maddie Walsh added 11 points and has now been in double figure scoring three straight games and five of her last six.
Memphis received 22 points from Madison Griggs and 17 points and 20 rebounds from Alasia Smith. The Tigers out-rebounded UAB 55-43 and had 27 offensive rebounds but were only able to score 16 second chance points.
UAB is now 11-3 overall and 2-0 in league play while Memphis drops to 4-9 and 0-2 in The American.
The two teams were deadlocked at 13-13 after the first quarter. Moore led the way for the Blazers with eight points and five rebounds in the first 10 minutes.
UAB outscored the Tigers by four in the second quarter and took a 31-27 lead in the break. The first half featured six ties and eight lead changes with UAB shooting 38 percent from the floor and Memphis 28 percent. The Tigers had 20 of their 27 points in the paint.
DeShields took over in the third quarter by scoring nine points and Molly Moffitt's bucket at the buzzer gave the Blazers a 51-43 advantage entering the fourth.
The Tigers scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and cut the Blazers' lead to 51-49, however, Moore scored a jumper and DeShields made a pair at the line to end the run and get the lead back to six at 55-49 with 5:50 left.
Memphis outscored UAB 10-4 over the next four minutes, but that is when Walsh hit a clutch corner three with less than a minute to go and the Blazers would hold on for the victory.
Rice 76, Wichita State 64
The Rice women's basketball team debuted in the American Athletic Conference in style, defeating Wichita State 76-64 Wednesday evening. The game was played at the Fertitta Center due to water damage at Tudor Fieldhouse. Rice's record improves to 7-5 (1-0 The American).
Dominique Ennis led the Owls with 17 points, four rebounds, four steals and an assist while Malia Fisher added 12 points, five rebounds and three steals. Destiny Jackson added another 12 points, three assists and three rebounds while Hailey Adams finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Jazzy Owens-Barnett rounded out the double-digit scorers for the Owls with 11 points, three steals and two assists.
As a team, Rice shot 27-of-65 (41.5%) from the floor and 6-of-24 (25%) from three-point range. The Owls added a 16-of-23 (69.6%) showing from the free throw line. Rice forced 24 Wichita State turnovers, scoring 29 points off of those turnovers.