FORT WORTH, Texas – The Memphis Tiger women’s basketball team opened play at the 2023 American Athletic Conference Championship tonight as they took on #10 UCF. Memphis would fight from behind all night to eventually take the 48-46 win in the final seconds of the game to advance to the semi-final round and record their eighth consecutive win.
Following tonight’s game, Memphis moves to 20-9 overall. This is the first 20-win season for the Tigers since the 2011-12 season and the first time in program history that they have advanced to the semi-final round of the American Athletic Conference Championship.
It was an impressive start for the Knights on offense and defense. The Black and Gold connected on three three-pointers to open the frame and went on an 8-0 run to build a lead on the Tigers.
The defensive intensity had the Tigers out of sorts, only scoring eight points in the quarter and shooting 25 percent from the field. Sierra Godbolt paced the Knights with four points and three assists while Rachel Ranke added five rebounds.
A slow start plagued the Tigers, finding themselves down 8-2 at the first media timeout. The UCF defense would continue to challenge Memphis’s offense, holding them to just eight points in the first quarter and take the 13-8 lead into the second frame.
Shelbee Brown would bring a spark to the Tiger offense to start the second quarter; Brown would get an offensive rebound off a free throw for an easy put-back. She would cut the Memphis deficit to 15-12 with eight minutes left in the half off a steal and score just past half court.
While Madison Griggs would get a running floater to fall, UCF would answer with back-to-back three-pointers to take a 21-14 lead with just under seven minutes left in the quarter. Memphis would be held scoreless for the remaining three and a half minutes of the half and face the 28-16 score heading into the break.
Memphis would come out hot to start the third quarter, getting a bucket from Griggs and four made free throws from Hannah Riddick and Emani Jefferson to cut the Knights lead to 28-22. The Tigers would cut even further into UCF’s lead after Riddick and Jamirah Shutes added in buckets to make it a 28-26 game with 3:32 left in the quarter.
The Tigers would get 10 unanswered points before UCF would score – getting a quick lay-up from Taylor Gibson with 2:04 left in the quarter. After Griggs got Memphis back within two of UCF, the Knights would close out the quarter with four quick points to make it a 34-28 game heading into the final 10 minutes.
The duo of Shelbee Brown and Lanetta Williams would get the Tigers within one of the Knights with just over eight minutes left in the game after six consecutive points made it a 35-34 UCF advantage.
After back and forth scoring, Memphis would take back their lead from the first quarter with 22 seconds left in the game after Jefferson sank back-to-back free throws. She would push the Tiger lead out to 48-45 with two seconds left on the clock with another set of free throws.
After UCF made one of two shots from the charity stripe with one second on the clock, it would be Jefferson who secured the rebound to run out the remaining time and give the Tigers the 48-46 win.
Emani Jefferson led all players tonight with 15 points and 11 rebounds while Shelbee Brown came off the bench for 11 points while going 5-6 from the field. As a team, Memphis shot just under 30% from the field while forcing the Knights into 16 turnovers.
The Tigers will take on the winner of Tulane/ECU tomorrow night at 6 p.m. CT. Coverage of the game can be found on ESPN+ and on 98.9 FM The Roar of Memphis with Tyler Springs on the call.